Tin Pin Turnabout
by Sauce Project Collective
Summary: It seemed like the perfect chance to change the world of Tin Pin forever, and they blew it... They had sought to brave this new prospect together, but ended up tearing a deeper rift between all three of them. Will they mend the scars they created? [Another Day] [Shibuya Operation - Story Storm]
1. Set

**Tin Pin Turnabout:**

A Sauce Project Production

By EeveeGen9988 and Chronic Guardian

[Shibuya Operation - Story Storm]

 **Chapter 1: Set**

* * *

"...He's right in his room, Yoshiya," his aunt said kindly, brushing the wall slightly before she rapped on the door. "Sweetheart? One of your cousins came to see you."

"Thank you, Auntie Chise," chimed Joshua with a grin at the older woman. "I don't think my visit will be long, so expect that I'll be out of your hair within an hour or so."

Aunt Chise slowly turned to him, her long, dirty blonde hair shifting as she shook her head. "To make a special trip, just to be around for an hour seems to be quite a waste, Yoshiya. Would you care to stay until after lunch?"

"Mmm… that offer seems tempting…" The ashen blond giggled. "And I would hate to disappoint you, so I guess mother and father wouldn't mind the delay."

"Then I will let them know for you," replied his aunt before pressing her hand to the wall more. Joshua hesitated from entering his cousin's room before he heard her speak again, "Do not fret, I know my way around." With that, she began to amble away.

The ashen blond watched her go for a little while before he drew open the door and stepped in.

"J-Josh?" came a murmur from the boy sitting on the carpet, raising his head as Joshua approached. Joshua noticed that his cousin was wearing his favourite silver long-sleeved shirt with blue-grey pants today (not to mention his yin-yang pendant), which was a miracle that the petite blond managed to find the suitable pairing of clothing for the first time in a while. As Joshua situated himself on his cousin's bed, Joshua watched as his cousin flusteredly repositioned himself to face Joshua. "Wh-What are you-"

"I believe you said I was welcome in your home anytime I wished," drawled Joshua with a smirk, stretching slightly as he went on, "As that is the case."

Slowly his cousin flushed, fiddling anxiously with a light honey-coloured pin with cloudy wings. "Y-Yeah, I did."

"You don't even seem pleased that I'm here, though…" noted Joshua, breathing out a deep sigh. "What a shame…"

"N-No!" Ayumu shook his head as he yelped, twisting around to stare widely at Joshua. "I didn't expect you, that's all! I didn't mean-"

Joshua merely chuckled, placing a hand on the petite blond's head, silencing his stutters. "I'm only joking... hehehe~"

Blinking, stray tears trickled down Ayumu's face before nodding, seemingly uncertain. Ayumu soon got up, crawling onto his bed to join Joshua before staring at him tearfully.

"That wasn't funny!" Ayumu's voice cracked.

"Look, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or whatnot," replied Joshua whisking his hand into his shirt pocket, then lazily waving the envelope in front of Ayumu's face. "But I'm sure you'll be happy to know I have a little insight into the next big thing in Tin Pin."

Without a second wasted, Joshua watched as Ayumu's face morphed into astonishment, his blind eyes flashing as Ayumu exclaimed, "Really!?"

"Right in this envelope here." Joshua's lavender eyes warmly watched as Ayumu gaped with awe. "You'll have to thank my Pinheads Weekly membership for the deed."

One would think a professional invitation would be exaggerated for an event such as for Tin Pin Slammers… Although, when you're talking about an event that wanted Yoshiya Kiryu to attend, Joshua wouldn't be surprised that it would be presented to him on this type of silver-platter. It was as though they were ready to roll out the red carpet upon his arrival, and that thought entertained his fancy well.

"Did you open it already, Josh?" gasped Ayumu eagerly as Joshua drew it back to wave it side-to-side with a small grin. "Is it another Traditional Slamdown- o-or a Quick Fling Tourney?" Scooting closer, Ayumu sat up taller and leaned on Joshua's back and shoulder, peering over from the corner of one of Joshua's eyes. "A Slammerai One-Shot...?" breathed Ayumu quieter in wonder.

Joshua snickered, merely brushing Ayumu off with little effort, slowly swerving to see Ayumu silently gazing back with his head tilted slightly. "Of course I opened it, Ayu… I can't just read paper with my mind."

"Josh-" Ayumu whined with an annoyed expression flashing across his face briefly. "I-I'm not a girl..."

"But Ayumu… it's cute, you're cute, and I'm not even saying it outloud in public like last time," sang Joshua while Ayumu puffed out his cheeks. "Even the nickname is cute~"

Ayumu crossed his arms, not looking any happier as he mumbled, "...I'm not a girl…"

Joshua giggled at that. Even if Ayumu never liked that nickname… his cousin always seemed to live up to its effeminate implications from how he always reacted to it. Joshua couldn't imagine any time that he would drop the nickname, it felt almost wrong.

"I mean, c'mon… No one can read minds, why would a flimsy sheet be any different?" Joshua shrugged, soon closing his eyes. " _Anyway_ … It's none any of those things."

Ayumu relaxed slightly, blinking as he breathed, "Then what is it?" He stared blankly at Joshua.

"Well… to streamline this lovely letter," drawled Joshua haughtily as he hummed, he wagged the envelope again before chirping, "Picture us- stars of a premier championship…" Joshua slurred a bit before lazily adding, "...and _maybe_ a third partner."

"Wait- do you mean a three person Tin Pin match!?" Ayumu blinked his eyes widely, resting his hands on Joshua's arm as he leaned in closer. "They never had-"

"And now they do," finished Joshua amused. "They _really_ couldn't help themselves from latching onto me, Ayumu… so I must appease their expectations."

It was a while before Ayumu frowned, blinking before he murmured, "...Wait, are you asking me to…"

"Join the dearest Yoshiya Kiryu, rising-star and future title holder of being the Pin King?" asked Joshua as he held onto his chin, giggling for a moment from how Ayumu was behaving before nodding, "Yes, I do believe that is the case, dear cousin."

Ayumu widened his eyes. "Really?" He slowly looked away, soon murmuring nervously, "But wouldn't I hinder your chances at winning…?"

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "Why would you?"

The slightly messy haired blond slowly looked towards the various pins that laid in a dysfunctional mound. "I-I've never…" Ayumu bit his lip. "And there's so many people…"

"Pssh, don't tell me you're scared of a crowd of people," groaned Joshua, adding a facepalm for effect. "You've _been_ in thousands."

Ayumu lowered his head, trembling as he meekly mumbled, "B-But that's different…"

"No it's not."

"Y-Yes it is…" Ayumu's voice sounded like it was full of tears. "A-And I'm not good."

"Look, you're pretty good, and I'm at least good enough to play for both of us, so please let your doubt out the door, dear cousin," began Joshua with a smile. "This will be a fun little chance for you and me and-" The ashen blond flicked his hand with a tut, "Our _lovely_ third member to give it our all, as well as give the crowd a taste of our flair." He shook his head. "You don't need to show off, yours truly has that covered. All eyes will be on me, so you can be cute- and you can even smile and wave at the crowd if that flatters you. There's no team that will defeat us when _I'm_ on the team, so messing up shouldn't even _be_ on your mind."

Ayumu blinked, his eyes seemingly straying on his pin in his hand before looking up again. "W-Will people like me?"

"Everyone should _love_ you, you're _my_ cousin," Joshua breathed with a giggle. "You really need to embrace the crowd more than shrug it off like _someone_ we know…" He narrowed his eyes at the thought of his other cousin, casting it away to focus more on what truly mattered; Ayumu and the championship.

Immediately Ayumu brightened at that, shifting as he soon asked, "Have you gotten another person yet to join us?"

Joshua smirked. "Not just yet…" He ruffled Ayumu's hair, lazily continuing as Ayumu made a face at the treatment, "I had to let my _favourite_ cousin know first."

For a while, Ayumu was quiet, blushing while fiddling with his hands for a while. After it became apparent that Ayumu didn't seem to want to respond to that, Joshua believed his cousin was thinking of their third partner. Which was good… as long as that didn't include their other cousin. The idea almost made him scoff, but he luckily held it back. Ayumu should know by now that being around their other cousin made any situation worse, especially when that arrogant, self-absorbed, two faced… Joshua cut himself off from that line of thought to stop the slow growing scowl on his face. Even if Ayumu was blind, Ayumu would still be able to sense his seething feelings on the matter.

The ashen blond nonchalantly took in Ayumu's mismatched pins on the floor instead, wondering if playing some practice matches with his younger cousin would suffice if Ayumu were to do well in the championship. Although, that pin Ayumu always clung to and brandished would be hard to seperate from his grasp, seeing as Ayumu cherished that pin the most. Joshua tapped his chin, taking in the fact Ayumu never seemed to want to play any matches without it, so Joshua would have to help Ayumu find pins that would back it up in the case it failed to do perform adequately during the matches.

When Joshua glanced back at his cousin to suggest this, he noticed Ayumu looked nervous about something. He merely smirked as he spoke, "What's on your mind, dear cousin?"

"I had a thought about who should be our other member," mumbled Ayumu without even looking up. "I-If that's okay with you."

Smiling warmly, Joshua placed a hand on his younger cousin's shoulder and chirped, "I believe whoever you think should join us would be acceptable, as long as they have some experience with the game."

Nodding, Ayumu replied nervously, "Th-They do."

"Well, don't be shy," Josh giggled. "Who has the honor of joining—"

"Could we call Rue?"

Joshua kept his smile on by sheer force of will. "...Perhaps. Although, he _is_ pretty busy this time of year with all those north regional slam-offs. Is there anyone else you know? What about that girl with the gloves. What's her name again?"

"Actually…" Ayumu tapped his fingers together and frowned. "I just saw Rue yesterday. He said he'll be in town for the next few weeks."

"Then he's probably on break. We shouldn't disturb him in the middle of something like that," Joshua said, nodding sagely as he rested a hand on Ayumu's shoulder and mentally scrambled for more plausible excuses. There _had_ to be someone else they could call. Maybe he could convince the judges to accept a stuffed promotional costume as their third member… "Professional players do need their rest, you know."

"Well then you can cover for him, right?" Ayumu insisted. "You _did_ say you could play well enough for the two of us. If I just practice a little then you won't have to worry about me as much and just focus on him."

"...And you're sure we can't get the gloves girl?"

Ayumu looked down and hunched his shoulders up. "Can't we play as cousins? I mean, we never…" he trailed off and shook his head.

They sat for a beat more of silence before Joshua sighed, got up, and headed towards the door. He heard Ayumu call out for him, but the elder cousin continued on until he arrived at the household's landline phone. He knew Auntie Chise wouldn't mind him using her phone (especially if it was _this_ important)… Gritting internally, and cursing with each number's dial tone, rings soon greeted him.

After waiting for not too long—although he wished it could have lasted for longer—Joshua didn't allow the person he was calling to draw a breath to speak, and he drawled lowly, "Cousin… I happen to have a proposal for you."

Despite how he loathed what he was doing, he couldn't help but feel pleased when from the corner of his eye he saw Ayumu's bright smile.

* * *

 **CG's Apologetic Author's Notes:**

Hello all! I was actually more of a "guest editor" for this chapter, so I'll try to keep my bit brief. Eevee did most of the heavy lifting, including the fantastic build up to Ayumu asking for Rueban as the third member. And even though this is her first work in a while, I really hope you've enjoyed her take on young Joshua as much as I have. He may not be as well spoken as his present day counterpart, but he's certainly got that signature snottiness going on. We figured he'd dull it a little since he's dealing with family here (figuring out an alternate dynamic for how Josh treats people he actually likes in general is… difficult), but he still needs to have that recognizable modus operandi, almost as a nervous tick.

That said, the last parts of this chapter (Probably the parts I had the most influence on) might have my characteristic obtuseness as an added "bonus"(?). I feel like my writing in general suffers from too much implication and underdevelopment as I try to give readers a kind-of-sort-of treasure hunt with a half-drawn map to figure out what I really mean. Hopefully I can suppress that when my part comes around next chapter.

Speaking of next chapter (and story structure in general), we'll be cycling the three Kiryu cousins for the remainder of the story. For those of you not in the know, that means Rueban (Josh's grandnephew from _Hybrid::Mixed Feelings_ ) and Ayumu (Josh's half-brother from _A Fall into Honour/Unsealed Fates_ ). In that sense, this might feel more like using the TinPinVerse as a backdrop to crossover _Hybrid_ and _AFiH_ , but we'll try to keep it fairly self-contained. Personally, I feel Another Day stories need to stand on their own even if they're technically permutations of the original. If we ever stray from that, feel free to call us (or, more specifically, ME) out on it. As an aspiring writer, I relish the challenge.

That said, I like how Eevee's set up the situation in this first chapter, introducing you to Ayumu and setting up both the physical conflict of the three-on-three tourney and the emotional conflict of Josh's extended family dynamics. Especially since these are people who were raised around Joshua, I think he can't get away with as much , so he's adopted slightly different tactics for dealing with them. Joshua may always be a manipulative little fill-in-the-blank, but he's not omnipotent and he's not made of stone. I love moments in the original like when Joshua realizes the Wizard went easy on him in the Black Skullers showdown because they show Joshua dropping his facade, if only for a moment. Although it may be vanity to say so, I really hope we can capture a little more of that with this work.

But I digress. Next week I'll put my writing where my mouth's at and attempt to give you a worthy follow up as Josh and Ayu head to the tourney and we meet the much-speculated-about cousin Rueban. In the meantime, why not check out another [Shibuya Operation - Story Storm] entry like Aviantei's _Yěhuā_ or Eevee's _The Fallen_? Or, if you're still just in that TWEWY mood, you could go check out the Hyoxjnn's _X Day's Marked_. Rumor has it he's gonna be releasing a "Gaiden" epilogue "soon". The next chapter of _Hybrid_ might happen sooner, but you don't want to read that unless you care about angsty OCs and super overwrought world mechanics like "how the heck did Composers even become a thing?" and such. Whatever the case, make sure you go get something warm to drink and have yourself a happy new year. Who knows? KH III might even come out this time. ;)

Yours,

-CG

[12.30.17]

…

 **EeveeGen9988's Attempt At Author's Notes**

Hello there, people. Like CG said earlier, I haven't really worked on stories for quite a while, but it was really refreshing to shove my writing skills back into gear, even if they're rusty. =3

It was fun to reimagine characters in the Another Day universe, although it was slightly harder to integrate Ayumu into it. In Ayumu's home universe, nicknamed the EeveeVerse by the nice guy from the notes above (AKA the universe that Unsealed Fates and A Fall Into Honour takes place in), how he would be able to cope with his blindness was the hardest to reimagine to suit the Another Day universe. Although, I feel as though we found a good way to tackle this. ;3

I can't wait for the later chapters, when we get to see the "great Rueban Kiryu". To be quite honest, Rueban Kiryu intrigues me, and is one character who I believe that I still have trouble figuring out his motives and personality for. As hard as this is to believe, I like to think of Rueban as a character I want to figure out the mystery of his character. As well, I can't wait to have a spin at writing Rueban… or at least trying to. *rubs back of neck*

And making up a younger Another Day Joshua wasn't actually hard. I mean, he's basically a younger version of himself but different (maybe, maybe not…?), so yeah… *rubs back of neck*

I know I don't have too much to say, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter! =3

Hope to see you next week to witness CG's turn to take a whack at this story! *waves and hands CG a pencil*

\- EeveeGen9988


	2. Launch

**Tin Pin Turnabout:**

A Sauce Project Production

By EeveeGen9988 and Chronic Guardian

[Shibuya Operation - Story Storm]

Chapter 2: Launch

…

Although the year-round climate control that came with being a Kiryu made anything seem extreme by comparison, winter in Shibuya always managed to out stay its welcome surprisingly fast. To Rueban, it was kind of like the charm of his adoring public: novel for the first few moments, then regrettably inconveniencing for the rest. And yet, he treated both with the same patience and aplomb expected of his station. He stood up straight under his father's umbrella and stifled an unseemly sneeze as Joshua continued to test the bounds of "fashionably late."

Stealing a glance at his attending parent, the Kiryu boy calculated about another five minutes before he could play the "I'll catch a cold" card to push them indoors. His father would prefer to wait at the entrance, even for such an insufferable wind-bag as cousin Yoshiya, but he was still a reasonable man.

 _Besides_ , Rueban reminded himself, resisting the urge to huddle his arms and crinkle his winter coat, _dear old "Joshua" isn't the only one we're waiting for…_

Ayumu Ki, the youngest Kiryu cousin, was more or less the reason Rueban had allowed himself to entertain the occasion in the first place. Although Yoshiya probably still had some scheme or another tucked up his maid-pressed sleeves, Rueban trusted Ayumu's motives behind calling them all together. Maybe not so much his punctuality, but his heart would at least be in the right place.

 _Assuming Josh isn't just using him, of course._

Rueban closed his eyes for a second and consciously squelched the mounting distaste. He wouldn't put it past Yoshiya to pull a stunt like that, roping in Ayumu for another shot at humiliating Rueban and shifting the balance of power. As prodigy players in the Tin Pin world, they'd spent the last two years vying for sponsors and public favor. They were discreet about it, of course. People liked the idea of talented children, but they didn't really like to think about the implications. Twelve-year-old masterminds were delightful to wonder about, not be controlled by. And as stupid as people could be sometimes, they understood pretty well how to be difficult once they realized a child was pulling their strings.

There was still no finally-arriving Yoshiya when Rueban opened his eyes again. This had to be on purpose. Cousin Yoshiya was a lot of things, but he wasn't disorganized. Briefly, Rueban wondered if the other boy had taken a different entrance just to mess with him. He imagined that smug Kiryu smirk that they both did and both hated. _Oh, you missed warm ups?_ His cousin's voice drawled in his head. _At least we found our weak link going into this._

 _You mean the narcissistic toad sucking its own hindquarters?_ He countered with perfect composure. A smile wormed its way onto his face and he pretended to blow on his hands to cover it from Father. Thinking he would actually say something so crude was beyond unrealistic, but Rueban let himself savor the imaginary victory all the same. Hopefully it wouldn't be the highest point to his day, but the prospects weren't looking particularly promising at the moment.

The wind shifted to bring nearly-to-newly frozen condensation under the umbrella and Rueban thought about cutting the five minute wait to three. He decided against it. Bending the rules to match desire was something Yoshiya did, and Rueban already shared enough traits with that weaselly devil without adding to the list.

Seemingly conscious of his plight, time slowed to an antagonistic crawl as lighter snowflakes mingled with the general precipitation and messed with impact consistency. How cold was it, now? He closed his eyes again and thought back to the forecast on the morning news. Mother and father had been talking about how nice it was for the cousins to be getting together and Rueban had been duly distracting himself with anything available to keep from gagging. Although his parents gave him a generous shadow of doubt to hide in, they were still sharp enough to warrant a few extra caution levels. If they caught him thinking poorly cousin Yoshiya there would be a lecture.

...M _ostly cloudy, with a chance of clear sunset,_ Rueban recalled after a moment. Maybe the clouds would empty themselves sooner than that, though. That would be a shame. Rueban took a guilty pleasure in cloudy skies; when they weren't pouring down on him, at least.

Sighing to himself, Rueban checked his phone again for progress on Yoshiya's deadline. They were just passing into the fourth minute when—

"There you are, cousin," Yoshiya greeted him from behind. After performing a one-hundred-eighty-degree heel turn, Rueban flinched as he found himself nearly nose to nose with his erstwhile relative. "Looking down on the unassuming masses?"

So Yoshiya _had_ snuck in some alternate route. Well, that would have been nice to know half-an-hour earlier... Rueban forced the expected smile and bowed. "Something like that," he murmured back.

When he came back up, Yoshiya returned the expression before turning to Rueban's father. "I see you brought a chaperone." A patronizing smirk flashed across the elder cousin's face. Yoshiya had been attending his last year of tournaments without much adult supervision, and he obviously regarded the independence as a source of superiority.

"Came to see us play," Rueban explained. _And some of us have parents who actually care about what their children are up to_ , he added silently. _Not that you'd know what that looks like_.

Yoshiya giggled and flicked at his sandy forelock. "Oh, so the pressure's on then. It would be an awful shame to waste an afternoon off."

"If you say so," the younger cousin said evenly, shrugging off the sentiment. "Anyway, seeing as we're a tad behind schedule—"

"Yes, let's head in," Yoshiya interrupted. "You'll miss check-in if you stay out any longer."

"...Right." _Because you were too busy snickering at my back to do it for me._

Following Yoshiya, Rueban sighed a visible breath and tried to be happy he was at least leaving the downpour behind.

The afternoon's selected venue delivered the prestige of a junior tourney. As an invitational affair, Rueban had been hoping for more than a fold-out concession stand and ten-year-old battle tables, but that was probably more inexperienced sponsors than intentional disrespect. Pin-Heads Weekly had likely blown their budget on advertising, rent, and a prize pot big enough to attract big name slammers.

 _And if they pull this off, they'll still get away with it,_ Rueban reflected, giving the check-in committee a measuring look. Two of them manned a table near the south entrance Rueban came in from while a third roved between the alternate entrances to herd in stray slammers. They all looked fresh out of high-school, if that. However, for a news outlet covering a relatively small event, the reportable details were what mattered. They could edit out the tables and staff members and still hit the important part: a new champion and a new way to market Tin Pin. In that way, it was kind of brilliant to allocate funds like that.

 _Doesn't make it any less stingy…_

Rueban smothered his pride with the assurance that next year would have to compensate for spectators. Northern tourneys were charging a small fortune for admission, and there was no way Pin-Heads weekly would say no to the business once word got out. And once other people were watching, there was an expectation of presentation.

In the meantime, he could at least win himself a title.

Ayumu was waiting for them near the check-in table. Rueban gave a small wave, entirely for the rest of the room's benefit, and tried to warm his demeanor before he got too close. The youngest Kiryu cousin wouldn't see the gesture, but he would sense the intent. He would also sense a whole phone book more than that if Rueban wasn't careful.

"Afternoon, cousin," Rue said, dipping his head a little as he closed the distance. "You wouldn't happen to be saving a spot in line, would you? I'm running a little late."

Ayumu frowned in response and Rueban immediately reassessed his approach. Had Ayumu felt something? The boy was a hopeless idealist and heavens knew wouldn't stand for any dissension in his family. Rueban would need to shift the subject to buy some time before Ayumu looked deeper.

"You're not here alone, are you?" That was good. It was a valid concern. Maybe Yoshiya could run wild in Shibuya, but Rue had a hard time believing Aunt Chise would allow the same for Ayumu. Well, unless Aunt Chise was trusting Yoshiya to look after him. Which would be an awful decision, by the way, but who was Rueban to criticize his elders?

Ayumu looked down and played with his pin pouch. "...Rue?" he asked. "Are you—?"

"Not to interrupt," Yoshiya cut in. Rueban belatedly realized that he'd lost track of his more mischievous cousin and tried not to flush with annoyance. "But we reeeally need to get to the tables. I believes these are yours, gentlemen?"

Josh held two ID lanyards between his cousins. Taking his and shifting a look to the check-in table, Rue surmised he hadn't actually needed to be present to claim his tag. So why hadn't Yoshiya just offered it at the entrance?

 _Because he's up to something_ , a little voice whispered in Rue's head. _Because he's trying to make you think he just got here too._

Or maybe the gesture was more for Ayumu. But what would Josh gain by fooling Ayumu? And hadn't Ayumu come in with him? No, it had to be targeted at Rue, and it was most definitely intentional. Even if Yoshiya had come in through a different entrance, he would still be able to swing by the table on his way to get Rueban. The question was, how clever did he think he was being? Did he mean to get caught, or was Rueban actually one step ahead of him for once?

Beside Rue, Ayumu stiffened. Stopping in his mental tracks, Rueban reverted to the warmer thoughts from earlier and tried to pretend he hadn't been caught red handed. It was an admittedly stupid move considering he was dealing with a psychic, but the response was automatic at this point.

"Sorry," Rue murmured without breaking stride. "I suppose I'm being a little paranoid."

"...Why don't you trust Josh?"

Rueban glanced at their remaining cousin. Josh had advanced far enough ahead of them that he'd be out of immediate earshot, but he'd definitely notice if they delayed too long. Best to make this quick and head into the tournament. They could hammer out the family drama over tea after that was all settled.

The immediate and obvious response suffered a covert demise before it could fully formulate in Rueban's mind. Joshua was a cutthroat player, and that was putting it in polite terms. While it was possible he was only messing with Rueban, a number of less-than-legal alternatives also came to mind. Nothing culpable of course. No, Yoshiya Kiryu would never be stupid enough to leave implicating evidence. But Rueban still saw a correlation between the frequency of equipment malfunctions and Joshua's presence in a tournament.

"Because we've been rivals for a long time," he said instead. The thought was true enough that it would probably pass muster. Even if Ayumu could exercise a degree of mind reading, he didn't press too hard with family members. So long as the basic emotions and energy directions lined up, it would be believable.

Rueban forced himself to move on before the tell-tale guilt could surface. He couldn't afford to distract Ayumu at a time like this. As the youngest cousin's professional debut, he'd need all his wits about him, and maybe a word or two of advice. If Rueban could shift the conversation in that direction, he could essentially kill two birds with one stone.

...Or feed two ducks with one loaf. That metaphor seemed appropriately less violent.

"But we're on the same side for now," he went on, leaning in with a smile. "The ones we really need to watchout for are over there. Ever heard of Tatsuya Dan?" He pointed out a young man waiting near their assigned table, a significantly older than them, black haired, and decked out in sponsorship gear.

Ayumu didn't follow Rueban's finger, but his shoulders seized up a little in excitement. "You mean one of the five Tin Pin Kings?"

"Yep. Tough nut to crack," Rueban agreed. "However, we might have an advantage here. It looks like he's brought his little brother."

Beside Tatsuya, a younger slammer was leaning on the table. Even if Rueban hadn't read about the kid, the family resemblance was striking. Besides, what other second grader would be attending an invitational slam-off besides a Tin Pin King's wunderkind relative?

Unfortunately for Shuto, being a prodigy didn't mean being invincible, and it most certainly put him on Rueban's radar long enough to warrant an analysis.

"The younger one plays by instinct," he explained. "The older one will try to cover for him, but he's reckless enough that he should create an opening for us if we play defensively. I'll feint him in the front and you get him once he overshoots. Got it?"

"But what about Tatsuya?"

Rueban shrugged. "I'll run circles around him until you can back me up. Just focus on Shuto and—"

"But what about the _other_ partner?"

Closing his mouth and exhaling slowly through his nose, Rueban sized up the third member of the opposing party as they arrived at the table. The third slammer almost certainly wasn't of the Dan pedigree, but he had to have some skill to be running with them. He didn't look familiar, but maybe that was just because he had his hood up.

Rueban idly wondered about the practicality of wearing a black hoodie indoors when the heaters were already working overtime to stave off the cold. Of all the things money was being spent on, at least they weren't skimping on keeping the building bearable...

"Josh can handle the third partner," Rueban said, nodding to himself. _That should keep him and his shenanigans out of the way, at least._

"I'm handling who now?" Yoshiya asked, giving Rue a sidelong look. "Or is our roadmap to victory supposed to be a surprise for the star player?"

"Oh, my mistake," Rue apologized. His voice hit that satisfying balance between sincerity and condescension. "You're keeping hoodie occupied while we deal with the Dans. You can handle that, right?"

Yoshiya's eyes narrowed into a look that was almost searching before it turned smug. He chuckled. "Whatever you say, cousin."

Which was more or less code for, "excuse me sir, screw you. I'll do what I want."

Rueban reminded himself that he hadn't come to trade comebacks with Yoshiya and stepped up to the table without replying. He came to help Ayumu. So long as he did that, he'd done his job.

The referee, a larger man with deep set squint, clapped his hands together and smiled at the assembled six slammers. "Ah, everyone here?"

"Yeah! Totally, bro!" the seven-year-old Dan cheered, pumping a fist in the air.

A moment later, the rest of the table gave their more somber response. Rueban caught a glance from Tatsuya and put on a smirk. The older Dan would definitely give them trouble, especially once they started going after his brother. The more Rueban could disorganize that trouble with imagined plans, the better.

"Alright, well I won't burden you with the basic rules," the ref went on. "However, as the first three-on-three slam-off, there is a special progression rule we decided to implement: any team members eliminated in this round will not proceed to the next round. So make sure you look out for eachother! You don't want to end up facing a team of three alone."

Rueban gave a humorless smirk. _Joshua might_.

A second later, his mind turned the thought over for another possibility. Yes, Joshua might not mind having a team member eliminated. Especially if that team member happened to be Rueban.

The referee's professional excitement droned on in the background as Rueban's mind raced for counter options against Tatsuya, Josh, and the third mystery slammer.

He was still thinking when Josh nudged him, and an automatic "Ready" slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself. It really had been a trap, and he'd stepped headlong into it. Still, there was one thing left he had to do.

Even with the world against him, Rueban had to protect Ayumu.

...

 **CG's Super-last-minute Author's Note**

Life's been a little crazy, so this chapter is more or less publishing on time by the skin on my teeth. And not only am I following Eevee's fantastic setup chapter, but I'm also now looking at Avi's SOSS entry and realizing how far I have to go before I'm on that level. It's like… there's so much development I need, but the only way to get there is bumble through it until I can get it right.

...Or I could write my chapters ahead of time and actually have time for editing, but that would require time management.

Anyway, since I need to finish this author's note so the coffeeshop people can go home, I'm gonna try to keep it to the point and hit the highlights.

As the first chapter where we really delve into the Kiryu cousin feud, I tried to think about the differences between Rue and Josh and what really makes them clash. On one level, I think they personify two extremes with Rueban striving to be absolutely upright while Joshua takes the more unorthodox route to victory (inspired by Joshua sabotaging Shooter in week 2 of the original game). This also plays out in their relationship with Ayumu, with both cousins trying to compensate for Ayu but in totally different ways. Will this eventually be a key plot point? Oh, maybe. But in the meantime, I like to think I've stirred up a duality between the two cousins that makes them mirror eachother: similar in appearance, but opposite in action.

This chapter also had to establish a little about Ayumu's way of interacting with the world, since that's gonna be a key component in the next chapter. It's taken a lot of batting around with Eevee to figure out how a blind kid plays Tin Pin, but I hope the result is worth it.

It's also been a reeeeally long time since I've written a nice, punchy, compelling chapter as focused as this one. Or, as focused as this one was supposed to be. Writing long, world building sequences for Hybrid has really done a number on my development skills, I guess. Here's hoping I can get that back soonish.

Remember to go and check out the SOSS forums so you can support other writers that aren't going through crazy post-college crisis like me.

And I think that's about all you need to know. Oh, except for maybe this:

 **Slammer Profile: Tatsuya Dan**

Slammerai King of Shibuya for the last two years and local favorite, Tatsuya has earned his place as a respected slammer through a mix of skill, strategy, and charm. His signature move, "The Tsuyanami" is said to be so powerful it was almost banned from tournament play. However, since the move relies on skill rather than illegal modifications, slammers everywhere must still face its wrath.

While Tatsuya is undeniably talented with Tin Pin, he can still get a little hot headed at times, especially when family is involved. After his younger brother Shuto dominated the junior league last year, both Dans qualified for the Shibuya Pro League, and Tatsuya has been as protective as he is proud. Although he's never played alongside Shuto, he's been known to stomp any player caught teasing his little brother.

Inventorywise, Tatsuya is sponsored by Tiger Punks and tends to sport their latest pins as a matter of contract. However, even on the sponsored scene, Tatsuya still manages to sneak in an underdog unbranded pin every now and then as an homage to his small beginnings. Regardless of the pin, Tatsuya is adaptable enough that his entire strategy can shift between ring-outs. This has gotten to the point that other slammers are reluctant to knock one pin out knowing the tables will turn with the next.

Despite his overwhelming success with Tin Pin, Tatsuya is rumored to be looking at colleges at the moment. If and when this comes to pass, the Tin Pin public has presumed he will pass his crown to his brother Shuto.

 **EeveeGen9988 Tries To Do An Author's Note**

Hello, people! I hope you enjoyed this next part of the story! =D

CG always does well with developing plots and characters, so it's a pleasure watching him in action. He did very well with this chapter, including handling my OC, Ayumu.

I don't have much else to say, I think CG tackled all the points well.

Hope to see you again next week! =3

\- EeveeGen9988


	3. Clash

**Tin Pin Turnabout:**

A Sauce Project Production

By EeveeGen9988 and Chronic Guardian

[Shibuya Operation - Story Storm]

 **Chapter 3: Clash**

...

Ayumu blinked. They'd arrived at the battle table. The referee was saying something about how much of an honor it was to host the match, but Ayumu was too distracted to process any of it. Beside him, Rueban and Joshua were both shifting through various stages of annoyance and distrust. Or, Rue was, at least. Joshua had settled on a cordial distance before even arriving and was now quietly reinforcing his opinions. Ayumu had kind of been hoping the bad blood between them was just a force of habit kind of thing. Like, maybe if they could just play on the same team for once, they might realize how similar they were and actually get along for once. Now he was realizing how dangerous it was just to have them in the same room.

Part of him knew the whole mess was his fault, that he could have figured out their problems without trying to bring Tin Pin into it. And yet, even with his well-developed sixth sense, he made a point of not reading family members too directly. He still read their aura's as a matter of practicality. Being blind, it was either that or get used to waiting out the waves of classic Kiryu sarcasm when dealing with his cousins. But part of that sarcasm was that they didn't want to be fully known, and Ayumu tried to respect that. Even if he could technically read their minds, it just felt wrong doing that to a family member. Kind of like pulling back bed sheets on a cold winter morning. Ayumu shivered at the thought.

Mind reading his opponents, on the other hand, was perfectly fine and entirely necessary for their plan to succeed. Ayumu used to try playing Tin Pin by "braille", but that always ended up with him fingering the wrong pins or getting his hands mashed in the action. Granted, he'd be playing on a professional battle board this time with remote controls, but his ears weren't good enough to guess positions just from the skitters. He needed to borrow a set of eyes to play effectively.

From what Rue said earlier, Tatsuya's little brother would be the best pick. If Shuto played by intuition then he probably wouldn't think articulately enough to spoil the other side's strategy. Even handicapped, Ayumu wanted to avoid cheating. Josh might let it go, but Rueban would go crazy if he found out about it. Rue didn't like being wrong, but he hated it even more whenever Ayumu did anything slightly questionable. Mom tried to joke that Rue was just getting in dad practice, but Ayumu sensed something else going on.

Ayumu shook his head and tried not to think about it. So long as Shuto had a mental map of what was going on, things would go alright. Ayumu would just have to remember to mirror the movements since he'd be looking at himself from across the table.

The referee's voice slipped back into focus long enough for Ayumu to make out two crucial words, "Slammers ready?"

His hands started shaking. Suddenly the world felt like a bad dream he'd forgotten to wake up from. What was he doing here? He was facing off against the best slammers in Shibuya—Possibly even _Japan_ —and he'd never played a competitive game in his life!

His breath sped up a little, and he knew both his cousins would notice. It was like getting caught in two spotlights that shone right through his skin. He'd been in a school play once where they used a spotlight. It was horrifying to feel people thinking about him as his skin warmed; he imagined the whole auditorium had suddenly gotten laser vision and decided to roast him with it.

Pushing down the panic, Ayumu reached out to Josh for a cue on what was happening. Joshua's energy felt fluid and light, kind of like sudsy dish water. Ayumu could almost feel the empty bubbles popping in his fingers as he tried to get a hold on his cousin's demeanor.

More than any of them, Joshua was good at pretending nothing bothered him. It wasn't true, of course, and Josh was also the least likely to let something go if it actually made it under his thick skin; but still, that light, defensive exterior would help at a time like this. Ayumu took a breath and tried to imitate it with his own energy.

The attempt ended in a choked gasp as a smooth hand closed on his wrist. He twitched before recognizing Rue's aura. His cousin kept a gentle grip as he guided his hands to the controller on the battle board. Ayumu felt his face flush hot as Rue moved on to checking his deck and making sure the pins would eject right. The other team didn't say anything, but Ayumu could imagine their mocking smiles at the childish treatment.

Tucking his chin into his chest, the blind blond took another shaky breath and tried again to center himself. Rue had a plan, and Rue's plan would probably work. If Ayumu just hung back and waited for the right moment to strike, he could probably make it to the next round. That probably wasn't what Joshua wanted, but Joshua's plan would probably get them all knocked out in the first round. As much as Ayumu respected his cousin's skills alone, it was harder to trust that aggressive, risky playstyle in a three-on-three game.

Something shifted in the air and the surrounding auras got sharper with focus. Reaching out to the opposing slammers, Ayumu realized the countdown had begun. Gulping down one last bracing breath, he gripped his controller and slowly made contact with Shuto's consciousness. The other boy probably wouldn't sense anything anyway, but Ayumu didn't want to disturb his focus. If Shuto couldn't keep his mind on the game, he wouldn't be much good as a vision proxy. Ayumu ran his thumbs over the buttons and tried not to think about how much of a disaster that would be.

"Slaaaaam," the referee began. The words seemed to come slower than normal, as if the ref had forgotten what came next and was holding out until he could remember. Ayumu twitched as he made full contact with Shuto. Energy shot through his body and he had to lean in on the controller to keep from shaking.

In the next moment, he had what he was looking for. The board stretched out before him with six pins. Apparently the tournament hosts were playing it safe for the first year and using a normal round board. That was good, it meant plenty of space to move and no surprises. Ayumu even felt a timid smile tug at his mouth. Maybe this wasn't so different from playing with Josh at home. Maybe—

"ONNNNNN!"

Suddenly the round board was gone. Or, not _gone_ , just changed. Into the moon.

 _What… what the…?_

The whole area flooded with light as the three closest pins morphed into superheroes. Ayumu just had time to latch onto his own game piece before watching it transform into a bug. And not even a recognizable bug, just some kind of sad beetle. Ayumu felt his jaw dropping open as the insect rolled on its back and cried.

Beside his beetle, another bug spread its wings and rushed for the center of the battlefield. Mid-leap, it changed from a bug into a fire breathing ninja. Hands became buzzsaws and feet became laser guns. The whole thing felt children's television if it were actually directed by children. Since when did Tin Pin have laser guns!?

Two of the superheroes ducked back from the attack, tucking their faces into their elbows as they danced through the air. The third grabbed something from the ground, a shield made from a giant pin, and dove closer. The design looked familiar, sort of like the pin Shuto had been using, but with a lot more spikes and heavenly light rays.

...Wait.

"Dark slammerai!" the hero bellowed in a high, pre-teen voice. "I have come to—!"

"Sorry," the ninja snickered, slipping around behind the hero and kicking him towards Ayumu's bug. "All yours, cousin."

Ayumu grabbed his controls and slipped to the side as the unbalanced superhero careened towards the insect. The beetle sidestepped in the opposite direction and morphed into a bearded turtle-man with grey, pupiless eyes.

 _My eyes._

And then it all made sense.

 _This is how Shuto sees Tin Pin!_ Ayumu realized. _Every game is an epic battle between good and evil! I get it! These heroes are Shuto and his friends, so that means we're…_ His focus slipped back to the ninja and turtle-man and the initial excitement flipped back to embarrassed confusion. Actually, maybe it didn't make so much sense. Seriously, why buzzsaws and laser guns?

Ayumu twitched back to attention as he caught the shielded slammerai attacking his turtle. He winced and pushed one of the special controls to jump over the reckless warrior. Could he really play like this? Flipping the controls was hard enough, but playing out a children's saturday morning cartoon? Maybe he could switch to—

 _No_ , he told himself as he just barely missed another attack. _I can't switch fast enough without risking breaking their focus. And Josh and Rue would definitely react! I can't make them lose. I've gotta at least hang on until we get a break._

But when did tournaments give breaks? Would he have to finish out the whole round, or was there some kind of halftime? Maybe he could switch after he beat Shuto like this.

...If he could beat Shuto like this.

Maybe he wouldn't need to do it alone. He was playing on a team, right? If he could lure Shuto close enough to Josh or Rue, maybe they could help. Keeping on the run, Ayumu began looking across the lunar landscape for his cousins.

Unfortunately, the moon seemed to have shrunk in the last few seconds.

 _Huh?!_ Ayumu paused as he frantically went over the small space again. All the edges were blurry now, and he could only see himself and Shuto. What was going on? Had they been picked out for a duel? Or was Shuto just focusing on their part of the board and ignoring everything else? Ayumu's reflexes seized up in a panic and Shuto grabbed the opportunity to send him edgewards. The turtle made windmill arms as it careened through the air towards a wall of fire, but it touched down and skidded to a halt before making full contact.

Scrambling back towards the center of the board, Ayumu just had time to duck into a defensive shell before Shuto made contact again. The slammerai ran headlong into the turtle just as a forest of spikes shot out of the shell, pushing back the shield and leaving the warrior dazed.

"Okay, that's enough!" Ayumu shouted, springing back up from his defensive stance and trying to ignore how his voice was coming out of a turtle-man. This was his chance to help, and he couldn't let Shuto's imagination ruin it! "Time for me to teach you—!"

"Ayumu, watch out!"

He twitched at Rueban's voice. _Watch out how?!_ He wanted to yell back. _I can't see anything! I'm trying, okay?! Why don't you try playing Tin Pin backwards as a giant turtle-man!_

Said giant turtle-man then lurched backwards as the fire breathing ninja barrelled out of the blurry abyss and body slammed him out of the way. Half a second later, one of the slammerai superheroes flipped through the space he'd just been occupying and landed in a crouch.

The new slammerai turned to Shuto and gave him a stern look, complete with glowing eyes. "You've gotta be more careful, bro! These guys ain't just—"

"Whoops," Josh's voice slipped in unapologetically. Following the cue, a being of pure darkness swooped down from the sky and landed on the second slammerai. A moment later, and he was hurtling towards the fire walls waiting at the edge of the arena.

Shuto's superhero went racing after his brother's. "BRO! Hey, hang on, Bro! Just use a rebound! WE STILL GOT THIS!"

The fire wall swallowed up the airborne slammerai and for a second everyone just stood still. Ayumu felt his stomach jump and he couldn't tell if he was relieved or not. If they'd managed to get Tatsuya out of the fight, things would definitely get a lot easier. But the way Shuto called after his brother… it was hard not to feel sorry for him.

Before Ayumu could sort it out, the wall opened up again and belched out Tatsuya like a flaming wad of gum.

"BRO!" Shuto cried, literally crying rivers as he pumped his fist in the air. "I knew you could—"

"Whoops again," Joshua interrupted.

Looking forward to where Tatsuya was about to land, Ayumu found Joshua had deployed another stinger. The Tin Pin King was doomed before he even hit the ground.

Once Tatsuya hit the trap, Josh was immediately on the offensive. Two hits and the opposing champion was right back into the flames. "Now," the oldest Kiryu said, turning to his cousins. "Follow my lead!"

Ayumu took a deep breath and re-tightened his grip on the controller. It was starting to get a little slippery with sweat, but they could still end this if they all worked together. If they could gang up on the remaining slammerai before Tatsuya respawned, they could build up momentum and—

And suddenly the board only included Shuto and Joshua's blob of darkness.

"W-wait!" Ayumu sputtered. Where was his gamepiece? Was he sitting on the edge still? Or had he moved from there? Where was the hoodie guy? Would he run into him if he moved for the center? He needed to change viewers _now_!

Beside him, he heard Rue take a sharp inhale. The hair on the back of Ayumu's neck tickled upward as his cousin's energy shifted to focus on him. Rue had figured out what was going on.

"We need to regroup," the middle Kiryu said. His voice dropped to a low, serious growl. " _Josh!_ "

"Little busy, cousin," Josh grunted. "Maybe you could come to me?"

Ayumu couldn't wait any longer. Disconnecting from Shuto, he gasped as the world went back to its usual blank. He needed to find someone else to see through before he got knocked out. Where was the hoodie slammer? Ayumu reached out, then instinctively recoiled. The hoodie slammer was focusing on _him_. He would almost definitely notice if Ayumu tried to spy through him, and then that would make a scene, and everyone would call Ayumu a freak once they figured out what was happening. No, if he was going to switch this quickly he needed someone safe, someone who would already be expecting it.

Without thinking about it, he slipped into another mind close by. Maybe it was because it felt familiar, like following the path home from school after walking it a hundred times before. The visible world came back into existence and Ayumu had exactly one second to orient himself before his new host reacted. There were two pins at the center of his vision. And one of them was Joshua's.

 _Ayumu?_

The thought hit him in Josh's voice and he flinched. "I'm sorry!"

The world blurred for a moment, and when the picture cleared, Joshua's pin had been knocked off the table. Shuto must have taken advantage of the distraction. Ayumu felt hot tears forming on his own face and running down his cheeks. This was all his fault.

"H-hey!" Across the board, Tatsuya cried out in alarm. Had he noticed what was going on? Ayumu clenched his teeth and hoped the other boy wouldn't say anything. Sympathy from strangers was just more humiliating.

"My pins won't eject!"

Wouldn't eject? Wait, maybe that meant they had a chance after all! Even on the tournament level, equipment malfunctions were the player's responsibility, so if Tatsuya couldn't get any more pins on the table—

Beside Ayumu, Rueban's aura shifted from annoyed to hostile. "Joshua," the middle Kiryu gritted out. "What were you doing before you came out to get me?"

"A wonderfully diverting anecdote," Joshua replied with strained composure as he fielded another pin. Ayumu cringed as he felt his cousin mentally acknowledge the surprise guest in his head. "It can wait."

Rue didn't take the hint. "You were tinkering with some equipment, weren't you?"

"Keeping my own gear in order, yes," Josh said. His mental state shifted and Ayumu watched as possible endings to the conversation played out in his cousin's mind. Most of them involved Rueban going ballistic. "Wouldn't want to have a malfunction like our friend Mr. Dan, here."

Josh's mind suddenly bristled with annoyance. Apparently that wasn't the answer he meant to say. The tension between him and Rueban was only growing, and Ayumu couldn't even focus on the board anymore. Something snapped in the air.

Rue gave a frustrated grunt and turned from the table. His energy spiked up like a sea urchin and pushed back against Ayumu's touch. "I quit," he said over his shoulder.

"What?" Ayumu cried. "W-why? I mean—"

"Because I don't play with cheaters."

Ayumu stopped. He wanted to yell at Rue and tell him to take it back. He couldn't accuse Josh of cheating! That was insane! Josh would never…

...Or would he?

Across their mental connection, Ayumu felt Joshua nodding to himself. The younger Kiryu paused, stopping himself from pressing deeper. If he read Josh's exact thoughts, he would know whether or not Rue was right. But if he did that, it would also mean he didn't trust Josh himself, and Josh would feel it. And they would both know they couldn't trust eachother after that.

At the edge of his mind, he felt Joshua realize what was going on and lift up a wall against him. Even if Ayumu wasn't planning on mind reading, Joshua knew he could. And that made Josh afraid. But why? Why would Joshua sabotage another player? Wasn't he good enough to play for both of them? He didn't need the edge. This was all just a misunderstanding! Malfunctions didn't have to be someone's fault, did they?

...Unless Josh was trying to make up for player who wasn't supposed to be there in the first place.

In his hands, Ayumu felt the controller vibrate, signalling that he'd been knocked off the board. He took one last shaky breath, then let go.

 _I'm sorry, Josh,_ he thought. _I can't do this._

Joshua called his name, but he didn't answer. He took his pins back from the battle table and walked away.

…

 **CG's Lonely Author's Notes**

So this time around I have to do notes by myself because I'm late and Eevee couldn't review the last few bits of the chapter. She's off being a responsible adult or something. But don't worry! You'll see her next week. In the meantime, I hope you didn't mind me pulling double duty.

As is my custom, this is the part of the author's note where I complain about how hard everything was to try and disguise the fact that I'm not a perfect writer. First off: Shuto's fantasy sequences. We see in the original TWEWY that Shooter has a pretty vivid imagination, so I just figured it would be even more intense/delusional in his younger years. Don't get me wrong, this was a fun sequence to write; Eevee just had to continually remind me to give clues about what the heck was going on to keep it from being too jarring.

Speaking of Eevee corralling my more wayward writing instincts, this was also the chapter where Eevee found out I'm awful at writing characters with emotional reasoning. In a reveal that will surprise no one, I'm a lot more like Rue than Ayumu in real life, so it's much easier for me to write characters who pursue a logical progression and try to figure out what's going on than characters who follow an emotional arc through their sequence of events and make decisions based on their feelings. This is part of why I'm glad I get to write with Eevee, because she's a lot more in touch with this side of character writing than I am. Hopefully her guidance was enough to deliver a more diverse and enjoyable narrative. If not, don't worry. This is the only Ayumu chapter I get to write. The rest is up to dear old Eves.

But that also brings me to my third point, which is also Ayumu-based. This one was kind of both a blessing and a curse. See, writing for a blind character meant I had to switch my analogies up and ignore anything visually based. So long as nothing slipped through the net, I tried to make his narrative more tactile based since that would be his primary means for interacting with the world. It was also fun/difficult to explore how Ayumu's powers work (although I'm not entirely sure I got them right. I was mostly going off of how I imagine his Deckverse abilities function). In general, it was an enjoyable challenge to deal with a character who defied my native narrative conventions and made me work on a new level mechanically.

All that said, I hope you enjoyed the twists and turns of this chapter (assuming I wrote the twists and turns well enough for them to be followed). I know I've been pretty busy lately, but I'd at least like to say I've done my duty here. Hopefully the next chapter of Hybrid won't take much longer.

In the meantime, make sure to check out the current Shibuya Operation - Story Storm series! Avi is still staying strong on the schedule, so if you need consistent content with an awesome aesthetic bent you can always hit that up. Until then, stay warm out there!

Hopefully not disappointing,

-CG

 **Slammer Profile: Rueban Kiryu**

Hailing from the Shinjuku ward, Rueban "Rue" Kiryu cut his slamming teeth on local Tokyo tournaments before moving on to disrupt the Northern Honshu and Hokkaido leagues as a wild card entrant. Legend has it that he was tagging along on his father's business trips to the areas because his parents thought he was too young to attend local tournaments unsupervised and his father didn't have time for special scheduling. Whatever the case, Rue Kiryu has been wreaking havoc on the northern slammer ecosystems and is easily in the running to succeed one of the five Tin Pin Kings one day.

This year marks Rueban's return to the Tokyo Tin Pin circuit, so it's expected he'll try his hand at wooing sponsors in the spring before the summer season hits. He's a noted fan of Pegaso gear, but some of his fans argue he might be shooting for the ultra-selective Gatito brand. Although Rue prefers low-weight pins with lots of technical possibilities, it's rumored he's been testing heavier pins for a "B-side" strategy of brute force to diversify his repertoire. The only certain thing is that Rueban isn't done flexing his slammer muscles just yet, and professionals in the field are expecting a lot of growth from his efforts.

The one difficulty Rueban has yet to surpass is his feud with his cousin Yoshiya. As two powerhouse slammers from the same family group, the cousins seem rivals destined to battle for the fate of modern Tin Pin as we know it. Only time will tell which one will come out on top.


	4. Rebound

**Tin Pin Turnabout:**

A Sauce Project Production

By EeveeGen9988 and Chronic Guardian

[Shibuya Operation - Story Storm]

 **Chapter 4: Rebound**

* * *

 **\- 3 years later -**

Tipping his head to the side slightly, fighting the urge to nibble at the top of his purple-ink fountain pen, Joshua pondered a way to respond to this overzealous fanmail… Most likely from one of his fangirls, as the swirly writing suggested. It was easy enough to brush aside confessions of love and marriage proposals sent directly to his family's mailbox, but matching the excitement she had when addressing pointless personal matters that really didn't needed to be discussed was a different matter.

A tired sigh escaped his lips, frustrated from her lack of vocabulary. Generic fanmail wouldn't be such a boring and bothersome feat to force himself through if people would just learn to articulate themselves a little more creatively. At the current norm, it felt like he was answering the same letter a dozen times a day..

After giving a response that would appear to drench the fire the fangirl created, despite likely to be refuelled by the oil his pen scrawled his response with, he waited a five good minutes for the ink to dry. He packaged it in, carefully pushing back the flap of the envelope to close it somewhat. Most people would seal envelopes with a stamp or… He narrowed his eyes, disgusted at the thought of sealing the envelope with his own saliva. He wasn't germaphobic, it was that father always suggested to neatly push back the flap. It would be better than licking it closed... when anybody could have touched it before him when they handled the shipments. And… how would his fan react to finding his blood on the envelope if he had a paper cut? An immediate action taken to clone him through his dried DNA alone? A creepy obsession to never part with the letter marked with his own blood? Or a bizarre need to worship the letter day and night as if it was a sacred artifact? As much as the fifteen-year-old would have _loved_ to shudder at those unruly thoughts, he merely giggled, seeing that this wasn't in his vicinity of paranoia. This fangirl would merely become lost in his sea of admirers anyway, so the outcome wasn't important.

When he deemed his quota of fan mail responses were complete, he reclined in his desk chair, letting out a brief exhale of relief his fountain pen could rest for another day. Now that the deed was done, he could relax. He would worry about the mailing later...

As he quickly grew bored of doing nothing but admire his selfless work of paying homage to his adoring fans, he set them aside as he settled his laptop down, accessing it within seconds before firing up the web.

One thing that never bored the ashen blond was to discreetly check up on his competitors… and of course, the Kindred Spirits. The first place he whisked himself away to was to see if anyone was up to play with him, but after scouring through Pinhead Weekly membership blogs and articles, most of them were away for Winter break.

 _How troublesome…_ he thought with a disappointed tut, idly drumming his fingers one-by-one on some of the keys. _All I'm left with now is myself, my imagination, the worldwide web._ Shaking his head, he checked up on any events that he could ease himself into until someone had the audacity to actually pay heed to him. It became apparent there were no available tournaments, so with a sigh, he lazily browsed through the photo gallery of previous successful little Pinhead Weekly sponsored events.

He filtered through the ever mundane ones, showcasing those he didn't care to pay attention to and stopping to admire the ones that truly mattered. Although, it was annoying how long it took to catch a glimpse of himself.

It was a long while until he found something that made his hand on the mouse freeze.

Apparently the organizers had issued for photos to be taken. What a shame… he could have had a chance to at least pose for it. Although, a bitter churn from remembering that day made him frown.

After his supposedly 'cheating', the organizers had promptly pulled him and the opposing team off to the side and disqualified him once they verified the launcher was tampered with. But that didn't set him off, he held no ill-feelings towards the gracious Pinhead Weekly when they had pardoned him for his innocence two weeks after the event went up in flames. No… if his middle-tier cousin hadn't announced to the world Joshua may have tweaked the rules for their benefits, no one would have known. They would have won, he would have won…

...Ayumu would have won.

The heartbroken expression on Ayumu's face was ingrained in the ashen blond's memory.

Sighing exasperatedly, Joshua closed his laptop, silently acknowledging the fact they were so close to dethroning the Tin Pin King of Shibuya. So close to winning Ayumu's debuting tournament… Ayumu hardly spoke to him for the next few days, opting to burst into tears instead… Eventually Joshua's youngest cousin pulled through and was able to talk with Joshua again, but any suggestions of playing together in tournaments (or little practice matches over at each other's houses) made Joshua think Ayumu wasn't over the events mentally when he refused each invitation.

Over the years, Ayumu slowly came back to the sport, but never with the same fervor he had before. A lot of times Joshua caught Ayumu playing by himself, but seemed to wiggle immediately from Joshua's presence when it appeared Ayumu sensed him. Whenever Joshua asked the petite blond about these instances, Ayumu always told him he was building his skills up in little competitions sprawled across the city… but going out to competitions every day now merited the ashen blond's suspicion. But Joshua trusted Ayumu knew what he was doing… or, at least Joshua hoped his youngest cousin was alright. Half of the time, Joshua couldn't tell what was going through Ayumu's mind.

 _Maybe he would appreciate a visit today?_ Joshua thought crisply, shifting to get up. _After all… I can visit him anytime I want…_ But then he paused, a flicker of a frown gracing his lips. _If, he's home today. Then I might have to reroute my plans._

Even before he grabbed his orange cell phone, it began ringing needlessly. His hand twitched from the abrupt ringing, furrowing his eyebrows as he hesitantly reached over to grab it. _Who could be calling me at this time? Hopefully another fan doesn't request for another meetup… I'd hate to shatter their expectations._

Regardless of the call, he flipped his cell phone open, then sang airily, "Hello, hello~ This is the one and only Yoshiya Kiryu at your-"

"Cousin."

Immediately his spirited response dwindled on his tongue, and Joshua drew his lips into a purse. "...Cousin."

Regaining composure among the silent treatment he received promptly, he smoothly breathed slowly, "Might I ask for your lovely reason for interrupting my day?"

"I don't have much time-" Rueban's voice lowered. "-or time to _deal_ with your antics right now… so can I expect your best behaviour on the matter?" Rueban said with strained politeness. Joshua giggled at the effort. Either Rueban was restraining himself in front of company, or the whole 'perfect Rueban Kiryu' act was finally so ingrained he didn't even notice he was doing it any more. Rueban, after all, was a slave to appearances. Except the time of their last match when Joshua's middle-tier cousin had assimilated himself into Kindred Spirits wannabes, Rueban's tongue would never act out of line. Anything Rueban would say against Joshua wouldn't crawl unnoticed, so Joshua was free to say whatever he wanted, and mess with Rueban _however_ he wanted.

At that thought, Joshua drew his lips into a smirk. "Antics...?" he asked innocently, bringing his hand to his chest as he imagined his cousin was fuming. "I have no clue what you're talking about, cousin. It wounds me to hear such accusations from family…"

An inhale sounded, whistling sharply into Joshua's ears. "If you're done admiring your own sarcasm, I have a favour I'd like to propose." After a heartbeat, Rueban added suggestively, "One we would all benefit from."

"Hmm… would you be a little more specific? I hardly would doubt the world would benefit from my humble grace alone." Joshua gave a chuckle, knowing very well a three-year-old's birthday party would be the source of their topic unless Joshua was enlightened more on the matter.

"Mmm, charming. Unfortunately, this doesn't concern the world at large. It has to do with Ayumu."

Immediately, Joshua's chest tightened, thoughts whirling towards questions of Ayumu's wellbeing. If Joshua was an irrational teenager, he'd be breaking through his front door for his youngest cousin's sake. Instead, he collected himself, coolly breathing out while ignoring how his heart raced, "Oh? Has Ayumu notified you about any qualms?"

"If you recall a certain event, where you had shattered Ayumu's hopes and dreams-"

"Ah-ah… I am innocent, if you recall how the interference was not of my accord," Joshua quipped flippantly.

"...Innocent or not, you ruined the tournament _and_ the game for him, cousin," responded Rueban firmly. "You can't keep thinking only of yourself all the time. Maybe if you stopped treating everyone like your personal puppets for once in your life you'd realize your actions affect people, and you can't just go around getting away with murder. Or, is that asking too much from Yoshiya Kiryu?" Joshua smirked, knowing he touched a nerve if he was receiving Rueban's classic 'I am dad' lecture. "...But this isn't about our disagreements on how to play the game, this is about Ayumu."

"As far as Ayumu's concerned, your favour cannot possibly benefit the likes of him. Ayumu is happy as the button that freed itself from one of your premium blazers recently, which I congratulate it for its valiant success." Joshua smiled despite biting his lip promptly after the words left his mouth. Even if Joshua had his own uncertainty that Ayumu was falling into the wrong crowds at one point after the event, from the whiff of smoke the ashen blond had detected on Ayumu during one visit and simply reassured himself it was mere secondhand smoke from the unruly homeless Ayumu briefly passed, Ayumu had nothing preluding to being coerced into wrongdoings nor was in a state of crestfallen gloom from how he sparkled after returning from his outings each day.

Unless, Rueban had been filling their youngest cousin's head with ludicrous ideas that he wasn't okay. Rueban was too perfect to pass up an opportunity to make Joshua feel as though he hadn't been catering to Ayumu's needs as he should be, and rubbing it in made an acetous taste form in Joshua's mouth.

"And… as far as I'm concerned..." Joshua drew in a steady intake of sweet oxygen, hoping that by the time he exhaled that both his piqued ire and the taste would dissipate without any delay. And Joshua liked to be as nonchalant as he could to not give his middle-tier cousin the satisfaction of knowing he was knocking Joshua down a peg. "That little event in our lives associates Ayumu no more. You do realize he's been doing his own cute things since then, and I do believe he wouldn't be interested in hearing you lie anymore. After all, how has making me appear to be 'the bad guy' worked out for you?" Joshua's eyes hardened, pursing his lips. "You must be feeling bold, cousin. As I do see you are accusing me, unlike what you told me before."

Rueban went silent after that, and Joshua hoped the call had ended after a good minute. But to his disappointment, the caller ID was still present on the screen.

"...We need to give the tournament another shot," Rueban said quietly, almost pensive from the way his voice sailed into Joshua's ears.

"Pinheads Weekly discontinued it after a certain someone convinced them for a couple of weeks that one of their VIP guests had tried to sabotage their kind effort," returned Joshua curtly. "Which is a shame, knowing they put their heart and soul- especially almost all, their, money into the first big gig of their profession. They could have expanded further, becoming a big name in the thoughts of Slammers and fans with multiple competitions galore… not mere sponsors anymore with a pretty blog and speckle of an event every six months." Joshua lazily tutted, "And now you expect them to miraculously revive it after its humiliating debut?"

"Look, it may not have been important to you-"

Joshua nearly snorted at that.

"-but it was important for Ayumu." Rueban had a catch of exhaustion in his tone, but Joshua merely listened with pushing at his middle-tier cousin's buttons later in mind. "I know you have a contract with them, you're one of their favourite Slammers to sponsor. You must have some way to convince them to set it up."

"Hehehe, _that_ I do know…" haughtily replied Joshua, stretching slightly as he went on in a lazy slur, "But who is to say I want that?" The ashen blond could have sworn he heard a growl, but he pressed his eyes closed regardless. If Rueban was going to play this game with him, twiddling the remote above Joshua's head… Joshua would have to be the one in control now. After all, Rueban's proposal was all on him, and Joshua didn't think his middle-tier cousin would have any luck with finding the backing he sought for his crusade. "To bring myself back into the position where I'm almost banned from Tin Pin because of one, petty, complaint of cheating hardly can spur me to run into your arms _ever so_ gleefully, cousin."

"You know in my position, thanks to a certain past indiscretion, I'm not exactly on Pinheads Weekly's 'nice' list? So you're the only person I know who can turn their heads around."

"My, my… you're the same as always," Joshua laughed dryly. "Desperate _'ittle_ Rue-kun… You have many sponsors, why don't you strut up to them instead of haring to me?"

It was awful long while until his middle-tier cousin managed to find words to reply with. "Because the tournament needs to be the same," came his somber mumble. "Pinheads Weekly was in charge of the event before, and it has to be now."

"Forcing slander into my throat was unwise then," Joshua scoffed lightly. "I'm only lucky Pinheads Weekly knew the Heimlich maneuver."

"... _Enough_ of your _games_." Rueban sounded like his perfect teeth were grating into the speaker. "Can you be serious for once?"

Joshua merely entertained his middle-tier cousin with humming as he mulled over the information he gathered from the conversation thus far. Now that he had a fair amount of knowledge for this proposal, he could properly gauge his answer.

Rueban really was desperate for this event to return, but Joshua would think the win was for Rueban to brandish smugly on his Slammer profile. Perhaps it was to iron out his achievements portfolio? His perfectionist side was probably going haywire over the loose ends, even if he was responsible for the mess in the first place. No, that little face would be conveniently glossed over to preserve his pristine self-portrait. As well, Rueban went the mile by trying to use Ayumu as his shield, which was absolutely revolting. Joshua's unfortunate excuse for a cousin was likely baiting him so Rueban could get him framed and banned, which was such a selfish way to get rid of the competition…

Joshua knew himself always wanted to win that tournament… especially with Ayumu on his side. And if everyone had followed him that day, Joshua would have joined the ranks of those who managed to defeat a Tin Pin King. Any direction his thoughts streamed, the tournament became more and more vivid in his head.

However, if he were to agree to this… Rueban would likely be pulled onto the team. Unless Rueban already had some of his playmates ready at his beckon, which Joshua hoped they were.

"If I were to, I don't know… join in your endeavour, would you spare yourself from our team?" asked Joshua slyly.

"No. As much as I hate to say this, all three of us must be together for this."

Joshua bit his lip, frustrated but swallowed the feeling down while keeping his pride in check. "Getting a little sentimental, are we?" Tapping his finger along the back of his cell phone, he sat down in his desk chair. "Your playmates must have instilled that silliness in you then…"

"I'm sure you're thrilled at the idea of playing with him, considering how Ayumu seems to shrug you off most of the times." Rueban paused, leaving it up in the air of what he was doing to pull his attention away from the matter at hand. When Joshua was tempted to check if the call had ended again, his middle-tier cousin's voice resurfaced. "But it's not about silliness… it's not about my fellow Tin-pinjas-"

Joshua snorted. _Talk about that diction you just used… I'm surprised your senseless getups to avoid your fans hasn't warranted your acknowledgement that you still haven't outgrown your training wheels._

"-it's about making things right. For all three of us, and you should know that, cousin."

The ashen blond merely inhaled slowly, sharply aware of the weight Rueban was pressing down on him. This was irksomely how Rueban was, believing his halo was glowing brighter and brighter each meager task he felt had soothed any injustices.

"I would say using our dear cousin as a bargaining chip is quite tacky, don't you think?" asked Joshua dryly, trying to wash out as much venom that threatened to leak into his tone. His lavender eyes sharpened as he went on, "If only your parents knew you made such low-blows in the name of the family."

"...Will you do it then?" Rueban's huff didn't escape his notice.

"I guess you have my vote." Joshua mumbled, shaking his head in frustration. "Or you might even aim lower."

Rueban went silent for a while, and Joshua was certain he was gloating. The very idea of being swindled by his middle-tier cousin made Joshua's skin crawl while he attempted to make himself understand what happened. The feeling wormed into him, and he couldn't help but fume from having his kite wrestled away by the wind.

"Excellent." Joshua nearly crushed his cellphone from hearing the satisfaction in Rueban's voice. "Pleasure making business with you."

"How about you skitter away while I tend to important matters." Placing his phone down briefly to ease open his laptop, he finished dryly, "Ayumu plays in the streets of Shibuya quite a lot these days." He then ended the call.

After refreshing himself grimly on the reality of the situation, Joshua gradually inhaled deeply and hardened his expression. _This time… you'll follow my lead, cousin._

* * *

 **CG's Rueful Author's Notes**

Well, Eevee basically juggled every natural difficulty _and_ having to deal with loads of poking and prodding from me before this chapter hit the shelves, so to speak. Not only did she have to deal with a flash forward scene that retroactively fills in a few Joshua cracks that I didn't quite touch on, but she also had to write Rueban Kiryu (Who I wish I was kidding when I say at least 80% of my notes were musings and revision suggestions on his lines, but apparently I'm more narcissistic than I'd care to admit), and write up a years long rivalry that needs to be set aside for the current storyline to even happen. For this last point especially, Eevee needed to put a muzzle on Rueban and Josh's acid wit to keep them from spending all night ribbing each other with comebacks (which, as fun as that would be, wouldn't move the story along and wouldn't be true to Rue's dogmatic character), so the very fact that she's attempted such a task already gives her major brownie points in my book.

Also, on the subject of writing Rueban, this is apparently Eevee's first time doing that. As with Avi during FLaFS, I soon realized that there's a lot of Rueban that I've thought out in my head without revealing to the general public. So with certain character actions, I can see _Hybrid_ Rue (which is true to a certain part of Rue's character, but is also Rueban at his absolute lowest point) while other times I'll catch the more refined _Another Game_ Rue, and inbetween I come to realize that I've left only a bread crumb trail of conjecture to show how they're the same person. So sorry for that, Eevee! This may not be the mess you signed up for, but I appreciate you working through it all the same!

That said, I tried to restrain myself from doing any direct edits on this chapter aside from small typos because I wanted Eevee to be able to experience more creative control. See, I had an art teacher once who would paint on my canvass to demonstrate to me what I was missing and I remember hating that because it violated my initiative as an artist. Basically, I guess I feel that the artist reserves the right to make the point they want to make as well as the right to be wrong and learn from their mistakes. There's no point in writing a collaborative story if I just grab the wheel every time I think I could do something better (and considering how conceited I am, that can happen a lot). In the spirit of the original TWEWY, the world is full of difference, and I'd hate to paint over that difference just because I know how I would do it..

Finally, regarding the chapter itself (man, I really get bogged down in metareasoning, don't I?) I really like how this basically reverses the first chapter, but still has Josh and Rueban being connected as a family through Ayumu. I think it's especially interesting because it subconsciously casts Ayumu as a plot device more than as a person. Like, Rue and Josh have certain things they want to happen for Ayumu, but both of them are impressing their own vision over what Ayumu actually wants. Maybe the cousins are actually onto something this time, but I wouldn't hold my breath just yet. After all, the adventure has just begun. ;)

See you next chapter as Rue tracks down Ayumu with a little cameo help from a certain someone!

-CG

...

 **Slammer Profile: Ayumu Ki**

A mere breeze in the Tin Pin world, Ayumu Ki hasn't really generated a following… although that hasn't stopped the whispers of his relation to Yoshiya Kiryu and Rueban Kiryu a secret. If it weren't for his cousins' achievements, he would have been a complete stranger on the scene when he accompanied his cousins the day he began to play competitively.

His debut in Pinhead Weekly's Triple Tangent Tourney had failed to launch his Tin Pin career, casting him into the shadows to work his way up in sparse events. You're only lucky if you catch a glance at the elusive boy, but by the time you catch up to him, he would have disappeared from the premises.

The Tin Pin world is unsure of his abilities, pertaining more to the fact he is a blind psychic, and struggling to understand his way to cope with and play the game. If it weren't for the mystery Ayumu emits from himself as well, he may have been brushed to the side of everyone's minds.

Although his main pin deck hasn't been established yet, many spectators have recognized a pale gold pin with cloudy wings being frequented in the little matches he appears in.

His strategy, from what has been mentioned by those he has faced, is a confusing mixture. Although, they have surmised he strikes when the time is right, is wary and doesn't go in for the attack, and often people have complained about receiving headaches after any bout with him. One thing's for sure is that Ayumu can be unpredictable, and is known to be fickle at times…

…

 **EeveeGen9988's Sorry Author's Notes**

*inhales* Due to an unexpected event pertaining to post-secondary last week, I was unable to help CG with the last portion of Chapter 3. I'm terribly sorry about not being there, CG, but I'm glad you were able to pull through with an excellent ending. *exhales*

Now, onto this chapter…

I find it interesting how I was the one who set up both the first and fourth chapters of Tin Pin Turnabout. In a sense, I think I had the responsibility to put everything into motion… which was pretty scary for me. I'm really grateful for CG's support, patience, and suggestions, and I don't think I could have done it without him.

I hope you are excited as I am for next week when CG leads the hunt for Ayumu! =D


	5. Feint

**Tin Pin Turnabout:**

A Sauce Project Production

By EeveeGen9988 and Chronic Guardian

[Shibuya Operation - Story Storm]

Chapter 5: Feint

Rueban waited until the call ended, then put his cellphone on the booth table and let out a long breath. A small smile spread across his face as he collected himself. He'd done it. Yoshiya had agreed. It wasn't the whole plan, true, but it would probably be the hardest part. Pitting his skills against the current Tin Pin giants was hardly comparable to dealing with his cousin.

Across the table from him, his current partner in crime watched with her chin rested on on a black stuffed cat she'd caught up in a loose hug. She wore an old school uniform from their shared time at Ebisu, now colored red and white instead of the customary monochromes, and a matching pair of designer headphones. She'd spent the majority of his conversation staring at him. Not listening, she made sure to cover his privacy under the pulsing hum of whatever it was the hip kids listened to these days, but she could read his expression well enough to offer a reproving frown whenever he started letting Yoshiya get the better of him. Now that the call was over, she lowered her headphones to rest around her neck and raised sandy eyebrows in an expectant look.

"Wellll?" she drawled out tentatively.

"He'll do it," Rue confirmed, nodding to himself. "And he even gave us a nice little hint for the next round of our treasure hunt. I'll have to find Ayumu on my own-"

She rolled maple-brown eyes and cut in sarcastically, "Because heaven knows I'm totally gonna bail on you now that you're in the clear."

"Fine-without Joshua's help," he corrected. "I wasn't sure if you'd be up for possibly wasting an entire afternoon chasing a psychic who doesn't want to be found. My dear cousin certainly isn't."

"Yeah, well… baby steps, Kiryu," his companion sighed, reaching across the table to give his shoulder a half-hearted punch. "He agreed to help somehow. That's still progress."

Rueban rubbed the spot of contact and gave her a dry smile. "Careful now, 'Ultimate Eden'. We Kiryu's bruise easy."

"Mmm… Particularly in the ego."

He chuckled at that. It felt good to laugh at himself, to not have to worry about preserving some perfect image to keep Yoshiya off his back. Rue learned early on in his tin pin career that Yoshiya exploited weakness as a matter of habit. Among many other things, it was one of the reasons Rueban despised his cousin. One could hardly say three idle words around Yoshiya Kiryu without being made into a fool.

But, again Rueban reminded himself, that part of the operation had been dealt with for now. And as difficult as Ayumu would be to tack down, Rueban could at least be honest with his younger cousin.

Well… mostly honest, anyway.

"So, not to presume against the infinite Kiryu wisdom, but…" Eden trailed off and tilted her head to one side. "...You've tried calling, right?"

"I have. He doesn't answer me for… well, obvious reasons."

The girl shrugged. "Had to check. I mean, you hadn't tried calling the infamous pink kindred spirit until I sat you down for it. Anyway, mind elaborating on those 'obvious reasons'?"

Rueban's smile faltered for a moment as he stopped to dig up the memory. It had been years since he paid the incident any mind, especially since he could just dismiss any associated guilt as paranoia if he never looked too close. Still, at the back of his mind he knew. Part of it was still his fault. Whether or not Joshua had cheated, Rue was the first one to turn his back on Ayumu.

Finally, Rueban shook his head and forced the corners of his mouth upward again. "Ah, well… Who can tell who he blames for it?"

Without much surprise, Eden dipped her face a little further into the back of her stuffed animal and gave him a reproachful look. "I thought you said it was ' _obvious_ '," she mumbled around a mouthful of fabric.

"And it will be," he assured her, before adding, "With time. Meanwhile, we have a target to catch, don't we? Considering Yoshiya will be scheduling the event he'll probably make it as soon as possible so we don't have to suffer through practice together."

"Kind of counterintuitive, don'tcha think?"

"You mean skipping practice with a team he knows he doesn't mesh with?" Rueban offered. "It would be, yes, if he actually cared about teamwork. Yoshiya Kiryu is a one man band; the rest of the world is just his backup dancers."

Eden straightened back up. She scrunched her shoulders towards her neck, accompanying the stretch with a squinting grimace, before widening back out and looking towards the door. "Okay, so your work with Pink isn't over yet, then. Guess we'll just have to brace ourselves for round two. Or..." She paused to give him an apologetic smile, " _you'll_ have to brace yourself. I'll probably bow out once we get a bead on Ayu-kun."

"You know he hates being called that," Rue muttered, sliding out of his side of the booth.

"Who, Josh?" Eden frowned. "I thought he insisted on you calling him by his spirit color last time."

The Kiryu boy gave his one-time master a light reproachful look before moving towards the door. " _Ayumu_ ," he answered. "He hates it when you shorten his name like that. It sounds too effeminate."

She chuckled and followed. "Aww… that's too bad. I think it sounds cute."

Rue rolled his eyes and continued to the city streets outside. He couldn't tell if Ayumu ranked "cute" above or below "effeminate", but the lack of distinction was about to work in his favor. The blind psychic made a point of being elusive these days, so even if they could track him they would still need a way to pin him down for a talk. With any luck, Eden would provide that vital pin.

The plan was, unfortunately, to take advantage of Ayumu's more instinctive nature. While Rueban and Yoshiya preferred outsmarting their opponents with olympic bouts of mental chess, Ayumu had always been more emotionally driven. To the youngest cousin's credit, his instincts served him well in most situations, allowing him to move more quickly and freely than his calculating contemporaries. But Rueban didn't have to outmaneuver his cousin's luck, he only had to outsmart it. If Ayumu sensed something he didn't like, such as a certain someone infamously attached to his nickname, he'd naturally try to escape in the opposite direction. And if a perfectly non-malicious Rueban just so happened to be in that direction, Ayumu's instincts wouldn't catch on until it was too late.

All that left was finding out Ayumu's general location so they could enact the strategy. Tapping into a few old contacts around the neighborhood, Rueban traced his cousin's path to the back streets of Udagawa. Even if he half-expected it, he couldn't help grimacing at the news. Word in the family was that Ayumu was falling in with the wrong crowd these days. For his part, Rue hoped the "wrong crowd" was only a skate club ignoring parking lot regulations, or perhaps even a pin gang like the Black Skullers if Ayumu really insisted on pushing the envelope. Anything worse than that and Rueban might have to consider waiting for another opportunity.

It was tempting to just set up shop at Aunt Chise's and wait for the blind blond to come home, but that plan carried its own risks. After all, if Ayumu really didn't want to see Rue he'd probably do something foolish like spending the night in the streets. Honestly, sometimes Rueban just wished his younger cousin could be more rational.

...Like Yoshiya.

 _You hear that, Josh?_ The middle Kiryu added in his head. _Maybe there's something I like about you after all._

"So… are we going in?" Eden asked, crossing her arms around her stuffed cat as she studied the entrance to the backstreets. They'd stopped around Shibu-Q Heads to get their bearings before heading in. After a moment Eden tilted her head and went on, "Or, I mean, am _I_ going in, Lord Kiryu?"

"Don't get too enthusiastic," he sighed. "You know I'm only using you as the hammer because I have to be the anvil."

She tilted her head to the side to give him a mock hurt look. "You don't think I'd make a good anvil?"

"The anvil doesn't work if it drives our mark off with annoying nicknames," Rueban pointed out, pacing a few steps to the side as he scoped a possible route. He needed to distract himself to keep from inventing possible worst-case scenarios awaiting his partner. It didn't help any that this part of the city was positively infested by secondhand smoke. If Ayumu really was in there, Rueban would have to make sure his clothes got a good wash afterwords to get rid of the stench. "He at least trusts me to respect him." After a pause to turn back towards Eden, he added, "... I think."

"Ah, well... He'll get used to it someday."

"And until then, we can use his ire for our purposes," Rue concluded, nodding to himself as he found a decent hiding spot. Not that he needed much. There were advantages to hiding from a blind person. Basically, as long as he wasn't in the direct path and making noise, he'd be virtually invisible to a distracted Ayumu desperately escaping an unintentional tormenter. "So," he went on, "Just go around from the back and see if you can drive him this way."

"Got it."

"...And don't be afraid to call if things get-"

" _Rueban_."

"Right, sorry," he shook the feeling and waved her off. "Good luck."

Something about those backstreets just felt wrong…

A moment more and Eden was out of sight. Rueban forced himself to stop counting seconds after the first minute and just go over the plan once they got through the current step. If he could at least coordinate with his younger cousin, they might be able to make it through the match even if Yoshiya insisted on being Yoshiya. The important thing was that they all made it through together. That was what Ayumu wanted last time, and that was what Rueban had failed to deliver. Not this time, though. This time they would make it work. _He_ would make it work. He had to, for the sake of their family. He was the only one who could.

He sighed and shook his head. _Rueban Kiryu… You insufferable narcissist_.

The self reproach probably would have budded into a full-blown lecture if he let it go on. Fortunately for Rueban, someone in the alleyway wanted the whole world's attention right now. An explosive stream of shouting, mostly populated by words unused in respectable company, flowed out and flooded over his reverie. From what he could decipher, they were upset with someone's sudden existence in their foul little bubble.

...Which would make sense, considering he'd just sent a certain someone to invade in that direction.

Scrambling back to his feet, Rue hastily fished his phone out of his jacket pocket and checked for a message from his compatriot. He'd told her to call if something happened, hadn't he? Sure, she'd brushed him off, but she'd still heard, right? Or was she too tied up to call right now? What was he doing waiting around for her to give a signal when she could be dealing with all sorts of back alley punks? Maybe if he just got a little closer, just so he could listen to what was going on...

" _Just get out of here, you fuc-"_

Rueban blocked the rest of the sentence out and fell into full automatic. He was moving down the alleyway without thinking, and part of him knew that was absolutely, irrevocably stupid. He wasn't exactly built for a brawl, and he didn't have much spare cash in his wallet. Not that bribing would be a great idea in the first place. Even sparing the dishonor of it, flashing money at a hostile party would essentially amount to asking for his wallet to be stolen if he didn't have any other collateral.

So what did he think he was going to do? Challenge them to a Tin Pin match?

 _No, you'll just sic your Tin-Pinjas on them,_ his inner critic drawled. _That's sure to solve everything._

But as amusing as it was to think of a ten-year old in bedsheets trying to tackle a back alley ruffian, he needed an actual plan. Rushing in headlong would only mean putting them both in danger. He needed a plan for escape, not confrontation. If he could get just scope out the situation a little more, maybe he could come up with something. Depending on how many of them were, he could probably come up with a diversion and dash into a shop afterwords. The merchants around these parts would undoubtedly defend a paying customer, especially considering the usual prospects.

He was almost to the scene when his tactical side finally re-engaged and he flattened himself against a shop wall. The angry resident was still raving something with a veritable rainbow of vulgar vocabulary, but he couldn't hear Eden yet. Was she holding back, taking the punishment for the sake of the mission? He shivered against the bricks, vaguely acknowledging he was probably standing out like a primrose in a dandelion patch.

And doubly so if a certain blind psychic wasn't focused on avoiding his partner.

Closing his eyes, he took a second to habitually berate himself before doing his best to casually lean out and actually see what was going on.

The first thing to catch his eye was his partner. Flushed red, but patiently enduring the verbal abuse. She looked doubly irritated when a stray glance detected his presence. Mentally, he tallied up the instance to his running guilt-log before moving on.

In front of Eden was the young woman causing the general disturbance: some hedgehog-headed scamp with snow gloves and a marshmallow vest. On the upside, she was more modestly dressed than most gang-related girls, so odds were good she didn't have any heavy muscle in the area to back her up. Rueban did a quick case of the subject, noting her lithe form and aggressive, though unrefined, stance. If it were two on one, they might be able to take her. Unfortunately, she had company.

Familiar company.

Rueban had to check his surprise before it became to obvious. Externally, he mitigated the response to a slight downward twitch in his mouth corners. His cover was probably already blown, but the old habit still stuck. He'd only been doing it for the first twelve years of his life, after all.

There, standing beside this uncouth young woman, was Ayumu.

"...Rueban," the youngest Kiryu cousin addressed him with cold composure. Not quite outright anger, but fully disillusioned. There was no surprise, no expectation. Even if Ayumu hadn't seen him coming, he'd already decided how this would end. Rueban would disappoint him again.

All the guilt-building self talks Rueban had stocked up over the years fell off their shelves to join the chorus.

The ruffian at Ayumu's side stopped her diatribe long enough to notice Rue's presence and rally for a new salvo in his direction. He saw her lips move, but she wasn't saying anything refined enough to make it through his filters. What a pity. For all he knew, she was just saying an extremely wordy "hello" with unnecessary verbal spice.

Well, considering the previous example of how long she could string insults, he wouldn't get anywhere fast waiting for her to finish. Taking a moment to clear his voice, Rueban almost gave a small wave before remembering who he was dealing with and settling for a nod to himself. "...Cousin," he returned. "Could we talk?"

"I don't know," Ayumu answered coolly. "Could you listen?"

 _Touche, you don't have the greatest track record for that._

Flipping a mute switch on the internal commentary, Rue stared back at Ayumu and forced himself to focus on the present circumstance. He needed to be pithy, to the point. Beating around the bush with Ayumu wasn't just inefficient, it was dangerous. He was already treading on thin ice with the way he'd left things, adding embellishments would just cement his previous failures.

"I want to make things right," he said after a moment, careful to use the same words he had with Yoshiya. It was the simplest way to put it, anyway, so he might as well stick with that. Hopefully Ayumu would appreciate the directness. "I want to fix things with all of us; you, me, and Yoshiya."

Ayumu pursed his lips, tilting his head slightly as he stared at Rueban. "You want to fix things…" For a few seconds the younger boy was silent, scrunching up his face in thought before frowning. "Don't you know it's a little too late to fix things?"

Something was off in his tone. Maybe he'd meant it to sound resolute and reasonable, but Rueban was more detecting years of pent up frustration with a generous slathering of regret on the side. Certainly not ideal, true, but at least the reaction meant Ayumu still cared on some level.

Before Rueban could respond, Ayumu's eyes darkened as he went on coolly, "If I recall it clearly, you seemed perfectly fine walking out on us." The younger cousin punctuated his sentence with a sharp exhale before moving on, "You acted exactly how Joshua said you would, and now…" Ayumu shook his head. "I hardly can look at you-both of you-when you could have fixed things there! And now-you want to fix things!?"

The middle Kiryu took the accusations with a straight face. He already knew he deserved it, but that didn't mean it hurt any less. Ayumu was right, Rueban had made a mistake three years ago. It wasn't just Yoshiya ignoring Ayumu's panic and recklessly disregarding the rules, it was also Rueban turning his back on a promise.

And that was why he needed to atone for the event now.

Ayumu's companion had gone silent at that point. She'd probably actually shut up once Ayumu started talking, but Rue hadn't noticed it until now. She was glaring ebony daggers his way, but Rueban found he actually preferred that to another round of her vulgar vocabulary. Who was she, anyway, and why was she hanging out with Ayumu? She didn't quite look homeless, although she certainly didn't seem well looked after either. Judging from her manners and wardrobe, odds were good she wasn't exactly miss popular at school. Maybe that was why Ayumu identified with her? Because they were both outcasts?

Rueban was still puzzling out the connection when the girl put a hand on Ayumu's shoulder. The blind psychic tensed, causing the shaky joint to go rigid, before relaxing under her touch. Her ebony glare softened to a smolder, but that was probably more for Ayumu's benefit that Rueban's. In a way, the gesture almost looked… tender.

Consciously pacing his next inhale, Rueban assured himself he was imagining things.

"Don't tell me… you want to fix things," Ayumu hissed bitterly, clenching his eyes closed now. "Not when… N-Not when…" He choked on his breathing, struggling to gulp in another. "Just give it a rest." He lowered his head. "...Leave me alone."

Rueban gave a respectful beat of silence after the last words before slowly raising his eyebrows and opening his mouth. "...Cousin," he said frankly. At this point, addressing Ayumu by name felt presumptuous. "I was wrong."

"You're just saying that because you know it's supposed to be right," Ayumu muttered, turning to go. "I'm not some little puppet you can jerk around with magic words, okay?"

"All right, so maybe you can't trust my words," Rueban admitted with a shrug. "And you can't trust my phone log that says I had a good fifteen minute conversation with Joshua because for all you know, I could be lying about that too. Maybe I'm exactly the self-obsessed scum Josh says I am. But you wouldn't know. You know why?"

Ayumu stopped with his back to Rueban. The next words would be a complete gamble on an Ayumu that might've only existed in Rue's head, but they were running out of options. There was no perfect angle to play, no desire to analyze, and no perfect expectation to fill. The only way Rueban would win this was through absolute, terrifying, possibly-totally-wrong sincerity.

 _Well... here goes nothing._

"Because," he sighed, mentally preparing himself not to cringe at the unrefined confession, "the Ayumu I knew cared too much about other people to read the answers out of their heads, even if he always could. You wouldn't know what I'm thinking because even when it's hurting you most you don't drop to that level. You're too good for that. And that's why we need you now, why _I_ need you to do this. Because if the best the Tin Pin world sees is a couple of grudge-ridden Kiryu cousins, that's a sad world to live in. Maybe I can't take back what I did, but I won't let it overshadow your future. I was wrong to leave just because I'd had enough. This time I promise, if you come, I'll stay until it's over. _Actually_ over. And after that, you never have to see me again. Just this one last shot, and no matter how it ends, I won't bother you anymore after that."

"So…" Ayumu said quietly, still facing away. "If I say no...?"

"That's right, I'll never let you hear the end of it," Rueban shot back, his tone shifting back to unintentional lightness on a nervous twitch. It seemed his accustomed Kiryu wit had finally had enough of the down-to-earth mush and was now pulling a mutiny at the crux of his argument.

Hang it all, what did he really mean and why couldn't he just say that? Why did he always fall back talking in funny circles instead of getting to the point?

For a moment, he just stood there watching his cousin's back. He'd probably just shot his only chance of making this work because he couldn't keep from making a dumb joke.

"...I guess that'd be pretty awful," Ayumu finally answered. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking, but he sounded more like his old self now. Maybe that stupid cliche speech actually did the trick after all.

Rue exhaled and put his hands in his pockets. "Would that be a yes, then?"

"Rueban," his cousin went on. "Are you really sorry? For everything?"

The older boy forced a smile and almost opened his mouth before his inner critic snapped back on to whisper, _Everything is a strong word, Rueban Kiryu_. And yet, despite the warning-

"Yes." The word slipped out before he could test it.

He caught a glance from Eden. Not quite alarmed, but certainly questioning. She knew something wasn't right.

But Ayumu wasn't Eden.

The blind psychic slowly nodded as he mulled over the single syllable answer. "...I'm going to hold you to that," he said, and finally Rue could detect a hint of relief in his tone.

Rueban let that relief fuel a genuine smile. "Thank you," he answered.

Because if nothing else, at least he meant that part.

…

 **CG's Delirious Author's Notes:**

So… I kind of get the feeling that I'm glossing over crucial details here because I'm in a state of bedraggled, illness-fueled delirium right now, but as long as the chapter was approximately proper English, I guess it'll work. I mean, Eevee will have to sort out whatever loose ends I just made next chapter, but she's capable enough that she should be able to pull that off. I mean, not to abuse having a competent partner, but that's the great thing about not working alone, kids: You get to rely on someone else when you're not feeling 100%.

*cough cough cough* Ohhh… my lungs…

Yeeah, so, not much more to say this time around. Enjoy me being brief for once. Guess that's everything except…

 **Slammer Profile: "Ultimate Eden"**

A former pro-slammer now operating off the grid, "Eden" was and is a mystery to the current slamming generation. Some say she was a genetically engineered super slammer created by Dr. Pin himself to bring balance to the Tin Pin world, others believe she descended from extra-dimensional angels to deliver the ultimate Gatito set unto this earth, but whatever the real story is, Pinheads Weekly has still yet to corner her into an interview so it's more or less irrelevant.

During the height of her career, Eden was infamous for only playing with two pins of her opponent's choosing. Otherwise, she was known to play with her signature "Eden" set (shipped and sold exclusively by Gatito) and control up to three pins at once in a withering assault known as "The Holy Field". Many unfortunate slammers have fallen to this righteous purge, and only the best of the best have managed to survive it without sacrificing a life in the process. It seemed she was destined to rule Tin Pin by sacred right...

After last year's slam-off, however, Eden quit the professional scene and went to ground. While it's suspected she may be in contact with some of her fellow slammers, she has yet to make an official statement regarding her disappearance, leading to wild speculation. Whether she has ascended to Tin Pin heaven or just taken a break to pursue other hobbies, her fate remains unknown...

…

 **EeveeGen9988's Brief (as always) Author's Notes:**

It's always a pleasure seeing CG in action, especially when he handles elements of stories brilliantly. As such, seeing him handling my OCs with care always is wonderful to see. Why? It's always interesting when you see another person's thought process and perspective on things that you know and love, and writing someone else's characters is one of them. Not to be philosophical or anything, heh, but I believe the person who knows you the most is actually not yourself, but others around you. Your perception is not always clear when you look at yourself in a mirror, only when you have someone describe yourself do you actually get to know yourself. CG here was always able to bring to light new things about my characters I've never known about, and the way he's written my characters always is exciting to see. =3

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, especially when CG's been working so hard on it. =D

(And I hope CG gets better. I didn't know he was sick until the end of the chapter… D=)

\- EeveeGen9988


	6. Strike

**Tin Pin Turnabout:**

A Sauce Project Production

By EeveeGen9988 and Chronic Guardian

[Shibuya Operation - Story Storm]

 **Chapter 6: Strike**

* * *

Brushing his finger lightly along Whimsy Flit's smooth surface, Ayumu bit his lip as he ran through his pin deck once again. Although, even with the five other pins he selected carefully, he could only pick at his pin collection again.

Ayumu couldn't decide if any of the pins were good enough to hold against his opponents, or if his nerves were taking control over his mind. Either way, the tournament would be starting at 10:30 am, and Ayumu had to pull himself and his deck together before it was 8. Sure… the competition wasn't for a while, and Ayumu had no clue which pins he would actually be using until then… But his morning errand would be foremost no matter what, even if it was a lot earlier than he wanted it to be. He couldn't waste time sleeping in today when the event was today. Ayumu knew this day was the cause of his anxiety, and it made him want to crawl back in bed pretending the event wasn't until the next morning. But it wasn't, and he knew Joshua or Rueban (most likely Joshua) would be at Ayumu's door knocking to rouse him from his bed.

Scooping out a few he had organized into specific groups, hoping they would mesh well, he quickly pulled on his jacket before searching for his pin case. His friend supplied it as a birthday gift years ago, a few months after they met, and Ayumu could never imagine transporting his pin deck without it. After finally locating it under his desk, he presumed it must have been knocked over at some point to his dismay. So without any more hesitation, he carefully placed his pins in the interior foamy molds.

As he came down the stairs, he tried his best to smile as he briskly entered the kitchen. Quickly, he pulled out the paper bag he prepared the other day, but widened his eyes when he heard his mother's voice. "Ayumu, sweetie… I need to speak to you for a moment."

Pivoting sharply, Ayumu shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mom… I don't have time right now. I need to head out." He sped to the safety of the door before his mother could utter another word.

It was just like his mother to stop him when he was in a rush, like she didn't care about what Ayumu was doing. Like his mother was making an effort to trap him inside like a bird when all Ayumu wanted to do was fly through Shibuya freely. He didn't have time hearing her strictly criticizing what he did, and he knew staying around would earn him that again.

Out in the streets, Ayumu picked out his path while sending out his senses for any signs of his cousins. He knew either of them would likely amble up and drag him to the event before Ayumu's daily deed was done. But right now, he needed his space. And after having Rueban seek him out two weeks ago, Ayumu didn't want any more prying attempts for information from his family…

Any more, and he would cross his breaking point.

* * *

Finding his friend wasn't hard, but escaping the thick-odour of secondhand-smoke made him almost feel like he was dragging himself from the backstreets. He could only wrinkle his nose, and hope none of it clung to his clothes, or others might suspect he was smoking or something… namely his mother. His mother hated smoking enough as it is, and when he returned home last time with the _apparently_ offensive smell attached to him, she nearly spat out both of her lungs from the scolding she gave him.

With the delivery secured after finding his friend's sleeping figure, he walked to his next destination, his worrying taking rein each step he took.

Rueban said things would be fixed… but Ayumu could hardly ignore his doubts dancing to the beat of his heart. Everything seemed surreal, even after the television advertisement heralded Pinhead Weekly's Triple Tangent Tourney's revival. Ayumu blinked multiple times just to see if he was waking up, even going to the extent of pinching his arms over and over before he started preparing this morning every day after that advertisement. The petite boy couldn't tell if this was actually a nightmare or not considering everything kept going without finding himself back in bed weeks prior to today.

The uproar of obsessed fans alerted him, but he merely pulled up his hood and tried to step around them without bringing attention to himself. _Rueban's going to hate this as much as I do…_

But he stopped at that thought, finally allowing himself a chance to ponder why he wasn't the least bit excited for a Tin Pin event. He normally would be feeling the prickles of the thrill of the game, even after the events that took place that day his favourite pastime made him dizzy with mirth… But right now, all that he felt was a hollow weight pressing on his heart. He tried to think of something, _something_ to inspire his excitement… but all he got was the dull ache of memories running through his head like erratic film. If it weren't for the fact this was the Triple Tangent Tourney reborn, he guessed eventually, he might have been happier.

Shaking his head as he found himself pushing into a nook in the auditorium, he breathed in and out as the painful memories continued. He wanted them to stop, but all he got was the pulsating anger from his cousins as he felt them drift further apart…

Ayumu jolted upon a weight resting on his shoulder. "My, my… enjoying the view?"

Slowly, the blind boy regarded the fact his first cousin had arrived… or did the slew of memories cloud his senses enough for Joshua of all people to sneak up on him? Ayumu had no clue, but merely shivered under the heat on his shoulder, realizing how cold he was at that moment.

"I…" Ayumu gaped slightly, his heart thudding before he tried to breathe out a response that wouldn't be mocked at, "How long have you been…?"

 _Why am I acting like this!?_ Ayumu scolded himself frantically as he slipped off his hood, stretching for recomposure as he heard Joshua giggle. _Joshua might use this as an excuse to-_

"Not long, I just got here," mildly purred Joshua, smooth as always. "If that lovely crowd out there hadn't demanded for my grace, I would have been inside nursing tea while waiting for your arrival, dear cousin."

"R-Right…" Ayumu frowned, lowering his eyes. Instantly, a part of him whispered what a liar Joshua was being, but that elicited his shock that he would think such a horrible thing. He shouldn't think that… but the voice in his head grew unfortunately louder. Trying to not listen to it, Ayumu focused on his cousin. "So you haven't checked in yet, then?" Ayumu asked quietly, trying to pour as much effort as he could inside himself to appear casual in front of his oldest cousin.

Joshua merely held a flicker of amusement, idly drawling out, "As a matter of fact, they haven't started yet. It _is_ almost 9 o'clock, dear cousin…" Before Ayumu could respond to that, he felt Joshua lean over, ruffling Ayumu's downy hair with giggles. "I do think they're compensating for their mistake years ago, as they're being quite batty towards any player who nears the barricade they set up. Hehehe…"

Ayumu narrowed his gaze, ducking and sliding himself along the wall from Joshua. "Barricade?" Ayumu echoed coolly. "What do you mean, Joshua?"

" _Aw_ … what happened to Josh, _Ayu_ ~?" Joshua whined airily, and Ayumu imagined Joshua was pouting to add to his teasing. "Your _favourite cousin_ cannot help but feel hurt that his _dear_ _cousin_ would do this to him."

The psychic merely groaned, clenching his hands as he hissed out, "Your _dear cousin_ doesn't want to be called that- ever!" He blushed, resuming his speech through a growl, "And I can't believe you're calling me that _here_ …"

"Whoops~!" Joshua laxly shrugged. "It must've slipped my mind."

Huffing out a sigh, Ayumu merely focused on the area where a number of people were clustered in. "So, they have a barricade?" asked Ayumu curiously with a raise of his eyebrow.

"Indeed," intoned Joshua. "I personally think they're being protective of the equipment, especially after the malfunctions they had last time."

The blind boy remained silent when he heard that, shifting from the uncomfortable squirming that churned inside him. He couldn't help but be reminded of that match again, and wondered if it actually was malfunctions as Joshua had told him. But a little voice kept screaming "liar!" over and over, and Ayumu would have crumbled right then and there if Joshua hadn't wrapped his arms around him.

"It's been so long since we've last spoken, even played along with each other," whispered Joshua gently. "I even went the extra mile to ensure they understand any little kink in this event won't be appreciated… I don't want you to think they're going to make this event go downhill for us."

Ayumu shuddered at that, feeling even more awkward as he mumbled, "Yeah… I just needed space."

 _Especially now…_ Ayumu thought as he subtly tried to pull out of the unwanted hug. _Stop babying me… let go!_

"Ah, well... all in the past then." Releasing his grip to sink into the space Ayumu formally had been, Joshua merely giggled, "We're going to have so much fun today, dear cousin." But then something seized Ayumu's heart when Joshua voice lowered, "And as for our other cousin… I think you should be vigilant when he gets here."

Ayumu crossed his arms, partly hugging himself for self-comfort and partly from the ire that spiked just now. "Yoshiya…"

"Just to be clear, we're playing nice and all… but can you really expect him not to pull another stunt like last time?"

Ayumu couldn't help but regard that statement. Part of him knew Joshua was trying to rile him up against Rueban, but he felt torn between believing it or trusting in Rueban. He hated the fact he was actually considering this, but why wouldn't he when _it_ happened? Whether or not Rueban was lying or Joshua was lying, whether Rueban was trying to sabotage the event or Joshua… Ayumu couldn't stash away the feeling he was being sandwiched and swallowed down by their rivalry again. And Ayumu wanted that to stop then and there.

"Joshua… Rueban promised me he's going to fix things," Ayumu murmured in annoyance as he closed his eyes. "I don't want either of you to act rude to each other, so can we just focus on other important things?"

Because if they didn't get their acts together soon, Ayumu might-

"Oh my gosh- Rueban Kiryu's under that disguise!"

Ayumu snapped open his eyes. _Oh no…_

"Girls- grab him!"

A boom of banshee-like squeals penetrated the walls of the building, and Ayumu frowned in a gape. The volume elevated before deafening at the slam of the poor glass doors almost cracking, announcing the arrival of Ayumu's distressed other cousin.

Ayumu could only stare in Rueban's direction, blinking as Joshua slowly began clapping. " _Bra_ - _vo_ , cousin… only you know how to rile up your fans without giving out a favour for the trouble."

Instantly, Rueban's mental guard flew up, but it only softened slowly when Ayumu shifted. Rueban must have noticed Ayumu, but all Ayumu could offer him was silence.

Despite the vestigial relief that Rueban arrived unharmed, the petite boy couldn't shake off his apprehension as Rueban approached him and Joshua. Even as Rueban slightly lit up with delight, Ayumu felt stiff as he nodded at his newly-arrived cousin.

"It really is hard to avoid them when they camp at the front door for the both of you, isn't it?" Ayumu breathed, not trying to let a laugh bleed into his voice. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, settling for a try at smiling as he mused softly, "I keep forgetting you two have a fanbase…"

"Having a fanbase only means you sign away your social life, cousin," Rueban pointed out as he began brushing his hands against something he was holding. "You should be glad yours is scarce."

"I don't think I do have one…" Ayumu frowned. "Who would want to root for a blind boy?"

When Rueban was about to answer that, Ayumu heard Joshua cut in, "Oh my cousins, don't think having a fanbase means you're in for a torture session…" A tinge of annoyance felt directed towards Rueban, and Ayumu frowned more at that. "Remember that as long as you give them anything worth their trouble, they will always give back."

Ayumu inwardly cringed at that. He wasn't much for parading around with strangers obsessed with him, pleasing and meeting the expectations of his cousins and the rest of his family was more than enough. If anything, that was part of the reason why he tried to blend in and out from crowds at the small events he's been to. The other part… he pushed that out of his head.

Before Rueban had a chance to speak again, a loud voice waved over everyone's heads. "Slammers, if you are now ready to check in, please head to the desks to your right. Further details will be given there."

The slightly messy haired boy blinked, feeling others weave towards the intended location. He slowly pulled out his hands as Rueban finally spoke, "So they haven't allowed us to check in yet?"

"Which is a shame, considering how easy it was to swoop in before," Joshua tutted, making a move toward entering the herd of Slammers. "But who is to question their policy?"

"...I think it would be wise if we all went," Rueban said.

Ayumu frowned deeper at that, shooting Rueban a look of disbelief. _I thought Rueban promised he was sor-_

"This _is_ a public event, you know. So allowing them the ease of knowing they allowed all of the right people in would make this event a little less stuffy."

 _Huh?_ Ayumu blinked.

"It's one of their other newer policies, dear cousin," explained Joshua smoothly, and Ayumu then realized he was discomforted enough that Joshua was trying to soothe him now. "I'm not sure if you're aware, but a few weeks ago a Slammer was framed and almost banned because one of their rivals' fans went into an event posing as them." Joshua gave a giggle. "I'm sure Pinheads Weekly wants to ensure that every player here is who they really are. And our cousin is right. For all they know, I could be slipping in delinquents under the good of my noble name."

Rueban slowly made a nod at that.

"Oh, I-I see…" Biting his lip, Ayumu nodded.

A swell of guilt rushed through Ayumu, and he tried his best to not let that show. It was terrible that Ayumu almost accused Rueban of distrusting Joshua, and the blind boy scolded himself that he was quick to do that. It was something that happened a lot to him lately, and Ayumu was having a hard time breaking that habit. He knew his cousin meant well, but memories of the last Triple Tangent Tourney were rolling along in his head.

"Your little events you've been to don't seem to understand the importance, so be relieved you didn't run across the same issue, my dear cousin."

Feeling a hand clasp around his wrist, Ayumu felt himself be tugged along as Rueban mumbled, "We'll be dealing with the wave of fans if we don't skip along to the registrar, cousin…"

"Oh, of course."

As Rueban continued to guide Ayumu along, Ayumu freed his wrist, not missing the pang of Rueban's surprise. Ayumu felt frustrated that Rueban assumed Ayumu needed his aid, as he was aware of the potent mesh of auras clustered at their destination. Ayumu knew what he was doing this time, and he wished his cousin would respect that.

After they talked to one of the staff and received their lanyards, Rueban taking a bit longer due to his disguise, they were directed to go down a hallway to gather with the other Slammers in a room. Clearly, being shepherded here meant two things: the organizers were being protective of their equipment, like Joshua said; or they wanted to ensure they weren't mauled by the congregation of adoring fans, like Rueban implied. Either way, Pinheads Weekly were scared, and Ayumu couldn't help but feel unnerved at that.

* * *

"Slammers, it's great to see you've arrived safely." A man with a warm voice welcomed them. It had only been five minutes, after Rueban had returned from changing into his usual clothing, that the man speaking strode into the room. "My name is Takeshi Oshiro, and I'll be your announcer for the event.

"Now, I know you're wondering why I'm here instead of your usual event coordinator, but he's sick so I guess you're stuck with me," continued the man with a lighthearted chuckle. "Anyway- I'm going to walk you through some of the rules for our event now, just so you can concentrate on your pregame strategies instead of me shattering them with our rules. Sound good?"

A ripple of agreement passed through everyone, and Ayumu shifted from where he was sitting. _I'm glad at least one of the staff isn't leering at us for once._

"You all know the rules already, but since I see some new faces this time around, let me give you a nice refresher…" Something crinkled before the announcer cleared his throat. "They're the mostly the same rules, especially the one where whoever is beaten can't enter the next round if they're on the victors' team. Oh- and our newest rule for the heck of it, unlike last time, is that each Slammer can use a maximum of two pins in each of the three rounds. But upon winning, those pins will become null and you will use two other pins from your pin deck until the final round is finished. If you use _one_ pin from the last rounds, you will be eliminated right off the bat. And I'm sure our staff had asked you to show them your selection, right? If you didn't, you might not be playing today, so come with me so we can sort that out. We don't want banned pins slipping under our radar and popping onto the board, right?"

As Ayumu felt the man walk away, Takeshi spoke again, "And seeing as our twenty-four Slammers aren't all here yet, please let your friends know so we don't have any accidental eliminations. See you guys at Slam Time!"

 _So, they changed a rule… A_ yumu thought worriedly with a grimace. _As nice as it sounds, it's going to be hard for me to know which pins I've used already._ Turning his head towards his cousins, Ayumu blinked. _I might have to ask Rueban or Joshua to help me keep track if I don't want to be disqualified…_

Ayumu wasn't a stranger to being in the crowd when he had been cheering for Joshua and Rueban years ago, but today, the blind psychic had to keep by the board at all costs. If he wasn't… Joshua and Rueban might tear each other apart. His paranoia wasn't misplaced though, due to the fact he's seen it first hand. But maybe, as long as everything went smoothly, as long as everyone got along, this Triple Tangent Tourney wouldn't be a repeat of the last one.

A flake of Slammers got up to go, and Ayumu merely thumbed his pin case as he became aware that Joshua and Rueban had slipped away as well. He frowned, but let them have their privacy. The urge to listen in was hard to ignore, especially when it had been a bad habit of his when he was younger that got him into trouble with his cousins once at the age of seven. Ayumu didn't think it was bad to mention how Rueban and Joshua thought about each other… Ayumu only thought at that moment it was funny how silly they were being towards each other. He never expected them to yell at him, or witness their auras transform into livid tempests that nearly made Ayumu faint on the spot from sensing. How could he forget the way Rueban wouldn't speak with him, and pretended Ayumu was a statue that wasn't interesting enough to acknowledge its existence of? Or how Joshua would simply once and a while remind Ayumu about minding his own business instead of being a stupid pest? Of course, Ayumu felt horrible that he invaded their privacy, and it took a _really_ long time until they forgave Ayumu. Although, shortly after that, Ayumu noticed Rueban and Joshua didn't play with each other with the same bond as they shared before...

Ayumu merely began biting his lower lip to distract himself, opting to pick out the other teams.

He didn't recognize most of the current Slammers, but one or two felt familiar. He did detect that Tatsuya and his brother were here again, and that brought Ayumu to frown upon sensing their excitement. Ayumu wished he felt the same way toward the tournament, especially when he realized the former Tin Pin King had returned.

Tatsuya had been missing from the scenes when he left for college two years back, so Ayumu was wondering why the former Tin Pin King wasn't at the very least unhappy he wasn't playing with his crown on. If nothing else, he wasn't letting the previous outcome get to him. ...Ayumu wished he had the strength to do the same thing.

While at the same time, Ayumu was startled when the younger brother began to head Ayumu's way, buzzing with thrill… _Oh no..._

From what Ayumu remembered, this was one of Joshua's fellow Kindred Spirits. Ayumu knew he had to act amicable unless he wanted Joshua to be on high alert if Shuto thought there was something wrong with him, so Ayumu hoped the kid wouldn't snitch on him.

"Hey, you're Pink's other cousin!" chirped the ten year old almost bouncing on the spot as he cornered Ayumu. " _Man_ , when was the last time we saw each other?"

"Last Tri-Tan-Tour," Ayumu mumbled, shifting to calm his nerves. "We were the first match."

"Oh yeah, Pink's team!" Shuto laughed and slapped Ayumu arm, causing Ayumu to wince. "I still can't believe you guys got disqualified because of the malfunction! That really sucked, and Tatsuya thought you guys should have gone on. But no one will get chucked, PHW got everyone's backs this time, bro!"

Ayumu pictured the boy was sporting a toothy grin, unaware of the implications of reminding Ayumu about their match.

Struggling out of that memory like a worm trying to avoid being stepped on in the rain, Ayumu nodded grimly. _I really hope so…_

* * *

"Alright, welcome to the Triple Tangent Tourney, everyone!"

Ayumu inhaled, keeping his gaze forward as the crowd cheered in response. He let the event coordinator's speech blur as he tried to focus on the flow of emotions coming from his cousins, hoping his own feelings would dissipate and synchronize with them.

Joshua's was hard to grip, but a swell of confidence was waving inside his composed self. While Rueban was easier to read, with a determined flame burning strong, however, the uneasiness worried Ayumu. Ayumu wanted to say something to Rueban, but Ayumu knew it would do no good if Joshua made fun of Rueban again… especially after Ayumu found out Rueban had worn a clown costume to sneak into the event with. But Ayumu felt Rueban had nothing to worry about, especially when his fans couldn't mob him now without being stopped by security... unless trying to fix _their_ current situation counted for that. Which, Rueban shouldn't be concerned about either. Rueban promised him he'd fix things, and there shouldn't be a reason to worry about that.

"Our first matches of the morning will go on until the end of the second round, when we'll let you have an hour-and-a-half break to catch your bearings _and_ catch a bite to eat too before we proceed to the finals. Then you guys can all go home after our closing ceremonies." Pausing as chatter wove through the crowd, he soon went on, "As our eight teams get ready, let's review our leaderboard, shall we?"

Takeshi had already gone over the times of the matches with them, so there wasn't really any point to pay attention. By now, Ayumu had grown used to the opening ceremonies from the various events he'd been to, almost able to recite each word if it weren't for the fact he would paraphrase the little details announcers stuck in. Most of the time, the little details were just slang and jargon meant to hit the high notes of the younger generation so they had a reason to be thirsty for more.

Ayumu merely fiddled with his pin case, mulling over his pins he had chosen previously. He kept an ear ready for the signal it was their turn to play, and thought over their strategy. Rueban was insistent on it unlike Joshua appeared to be, mainly deciding that staying alive was always the priority. As long as they covered each others' shortcomings, they would walk home shamelessly as family. However, Ayumu noticed Joshua's mind was wandering during their discussion, which concerned him. If Joshua didn't pay attention, Ayumu knew Rueban wouldn't take that lightheartedly. It might break the ice they barely kept afloat on…

"Honestly, Ayu…" Joshua said as he sidled closer to Ayumu. "Just relax already. Our opponents are mere amateurs, and their training wheels have yet to come off."

The blind blond grimaced, hoping that was enough to warn his cousin of what they talked about earlier when Rueban intoned, "And how would you know about that, cousin?"

"I may have noticed their Tin Pin Starter Kit packaging was thrown away after they registered their pins." Joshua let an airy giggle, "You would think primary school students have enough sense to step back from an official tournament if you're just starting out."

Ayumu turned his head to his oldest cousin, breathing out tersely, "It's odd hearing you say that, especially when you entered your first tournament promising me Tin Pin was a waste of time because you explicitly stated you hated it..." He inched sideways, smiling slightly with amusement. "When afterwards, giving autographs to strangers had somehow convinced you to sign up for the next tournament you vanquished."

A hand ran through Ayumu's hair, making Ayumu scowl as Joshua glowed with pride. "Are you suggesting I went in to appease my newborn fans, or was a Tin Pin overlord?"

"He may be suggesting that some rookies already have the makings for greatness." Rueban made a motion of a shrug. "And that what you said now doesn't match up to your first experience."

"Are you saying my reasons for playing then are just as senseless as theirs…?" slowly asked Joshua, his aura dimming drastically to a twitchy static of indignation. "For your information, I went in fully aware of the rules, statistics, and had a pin deck fleshed out unlike them… thank you very much."

Frowning, Ayumu nervously looked toward Rueban as he sighed, "Maybe, but you also had some generous support in that corner. And that's pretty vital for any player, as I see it. It would take an arrogant fool to suppose his skills are fully formed at conception." Rueban's already tense aura distorted despite how it struggled in remaining still and cool. "You would've floundered, and made a fool of yourself if we weren't there for you."

Their oldest cousin scoffed, "...And are you suggesting I ate out of the palm of your hand?"

"Quite frankly, that seems to be the case."

Right away, Ayumu felt a disturbance stir in the air between them, and it almost suffocated Ayumu as he felt their emotions surge in anger. Ayumu widened his eyes, breathing shakily as the urge to cover his ears and flee came as the previous Triple Tangent Tourney filtered over Ayumu's senses. _No… don't do this! Don't do this- stop!_

"Without further ado, our first two teams will get sorted around the battletable!"

Ayumu sucked in sharply, dazedly bringing his attention to Takeshi. "Introducing our first team- the Pink at his Primes!"

"He could have made do without adding the 's'…" mused Joshua somewhat in disappointment, tutting with a shake of his head, "He degrated the importance completely."

"Are we talking about the fact the name you chose isn't spotlighting you enough?" dryly asked Rueban with a sigh. "Remind me again to not let you pick straws next time."

"Oh, if you were around, I would have let you have _some_ input. And seeing as you were running around Shibuya for our dear cousin, I had to make the sacrifice without delay."

Rueban quietly threw up a mental barrier in response.

Before Ayumu could react to this, he watched Joshua stride away, Rueban following behind. While their argument was averted, the sizzling sputters of their auras remained. And Ayumu couldn't help but keep standing stiffly in place.

Just now… he knew the match wouldn't distract their anger. Ayumu shouldn't have mentioned that. He was only trying to lighten the mood, but that wasn't good to do that to begin with! Ayumu's legs were numb- he was sick to his stomach- he was ready to throw up- his head felt fuzzy-

"Ayumu."

Flinching, Ayumu nearly choked on his own gasp. He was aware of Rueban's hand on his wrist, and he gulped in a breath of air upon sensing his cousin's royal purple aura wavy and concerned… a break from the sibilated bitterness. "Is everything okay?"

"I-I…" The blind boy grimaced, trying to inhale again… although it was shaky and that left him trying to breathe in more. With his free hand, he ran his hand through his hair, noticing he had cold sweat developing on his forehead. "Y-Yeah…"

"If you are not feeling up to par, we could vouch for our team to be shifted to a later-"

"I'm _fine_ ," insisted Ayumu curtly, wrenching his wrist away despite the lack of resistance. "It wouldn't be fair to the other teams, and there's nothing to worry about. After all-" Ayumu paused, soon murmuring with relief, "Everything will be okay… everything will be fixed…" He focused on Rueban harder while worming a smile on his face the best he could. "Right, Rue?"

The flicker passing through Rueban made Ayumu almost drop his smile. The strain was strange, it didn't make sense at all… If anything, it was like Rueban was hiding something from him. But Ayumu tried to shove those negative thoughts away, telling himself Rueban was just concerned still.

Rueban appeared somewhat tense when a new wave of emotion set in. "...If you feel like you can't continue, just let me know." Rueban was wary about Ayumu not telling the truth, and Ayumu could let that pass for now. After all, Ayumu was fine not having to rely on his cousins, especially when Ayumu could hardly bring much energy to trust them as well as he used to.

...Especially himself.

Ayumu nodded coolly. "You shouldn't focus on me. Just focus on the game, working with Joshua, and…" Ayumu narrowed his eyes, moving his gaze off to the side. "Fix things… _please_ fix things…"

Tears almost ran down his face, but Ayumu fought against it as he turned around. He tried his best to walk casually in the direction of their first match, Rueban reluctantly following.

* * *

As Ayumu came to his part of the board, brushing his hand to ensure he knew where to insert his pins. He paid no mind to the announcer but to his frantic heart.

 _This is it…_ Ayumu thought uneasily as he opened up his case, lightly running his thumb along Whimsy Flit as he felt Joshua and Rueban loading up their pins. _Everything will be different this time..._

Bringing his hand to the opposite side of his pin case, he scooped the most left pins from their foamy protector before slowly sliding them into his launcher slot. _We're in this together, and I don't want us to fall apart again._

As soon as clinking sounded, he waited for the launcher's locks to kick in before putting his pin case away. For a few seconds, he ignored his cousins' attempts to check on him in lieu of scanning the crowd. _Are you here?_

With a heavy heart the one he wanted to see most was absent, he turned his attention back as everyone's auras tensed. He gradually eased himself into grabbing his controls, he paid no mind to the braille instructions accommodated for him. Ayumu wondered briefly how long it would take for them to realize those were useless to him now; his instincts were sharper than those tiny dots.

Every number of the countdown cut through the air like a knife, and when it was time-

"Slam on!"

-he swiftly jabbed to stab, trusting the knife to make the mark.

* * *

 **CG's Wild-Eyed Author's Notes:**

Okay, so… yeah. Crazy times. I mean, I'm feeling a little better at this point, so I can almost contribute coherently again, but almost 99.9% of this chapter is just Eevee going to town on the setup for the second half of the story. And mad props to her for finally giving some substantial length to our little story! I feel like Eevee embodies a lot of the traits I lack as a writer, and sheer ability to create content on a deadline is definitely one of them.

In other notes, if you recognize our dear MC for the Tri-Tan-Tour reborn then congratulations! You are officially better at remembering OCs than me. (Eevee had to remind me where I'd seen him before. I knew he sounded familiar!)

But most importantly, I like seeing how Eevee lays out the stakes for a situation and develops tensions between the characters' unique perspectives. In a way, you can tell a lot about a person by the conflicts that they focus in on! For example, you'll notice that one character I wrote sometime struggled against something or other. I'm sure it was important! And I'm sure it reflects back on me somehow. Unfortunately, I'm also fighting a headache right now because "taking it easy" isn't in my vocabulary and I haven't quite gotten better from last week yet.

You now have permission to shake your head and/or point and laugh.

Annnyway, my only worry now is following up this chapter with like 2000 words of Joshua grating on Rue's nerves and things going south again. Because, y'know, plot arcs are a thing. So until then! Stay healthy, everyone.

...I wish I had.

d-,ob

-CG

...

 **EeveeGen9988's Lethargic Author's Notes:**

Well, the chapter might be late, but I had something important that needed to be taken care of in real life… *rubs back of neck* Sorry.

I wish I could say I'm a great writer, but if I were, I guess I would already have a novel out or something. *shrugs* Unlike me, CG has the skills to write one. And I also don't have enough stamina or energy to write a novel, and if I try, I scrap it fairly quickly. So, I'd say you should be clapping for CG, not me.

As well, I know he told you to shake your head and/or point and laugh at him… but don't do that, people. Please don't do that, I won't be happy if you do that. Human decency is a thing, y'know?


	7. Overshot

**Tin Pin Turnabout:**

A Sauce Project Production

By EeveeGen9988 and Chronic Guardian

[Shibuya Operation - Story Storm]

Chapter 7: Overshot

Power was a funny thing to Yoshiya Kiryu. He'd seen it create great men just as soon as he'd seen it destroy them. He wasn't one of those it would destroy, of course, he knew how to keep a loose grasp and give a gentle nudge. Not like his self-absorbed middle cousin, no. That one thirsted for control like a hopeless drunk, convinced it was all he needed to piece his perfect little comeback together and revive Ayumu's affection and trust.

This was because Rueban was foolish.

Even now, as the lights above the table flashed green and the first match began, Joshua knew his least favorite cousin would only be keeping half an eye on the match while he spent the rest of his energy fussing over Ayumu. And if there was one thing Josh knew Ayumu didn't want, it was to be fussed over.

But if Rueban could protect their poor, inexperienced, handicapped cousin, then that would give him a sense of the power he so desperately longed for. After all, most people didn't actually need power, just the illusion of it. And as long as Rueban felt he was making some impact somewhere for someone, even if it was only because he was forcing himself in Ayumu's way to take the punishment for him, then that illusion would stay intact.

 _Yes, you did this all for him_ , Joshua mocked silently behind his soft, inscrutable smile. _You wanted to fix things, but you placed the emphasis on_ you _instead of_ fix.

The clang of clashing pins rung around him as he nursed his old annoyances with Rueban back to health. Any other round he would have put the thoughts on the back burner to simmer as he focused his offensive, but the current crop was too green to pose any real threat. He would wonder how they made it to an invitational event like this if he hadn't specifically requested their inclusion . They hadn't seem particularly gifted when they asked for his autograph at the local arcade, but the tournament needed an extra team to even the rankings and Ayumu could probably use the warm up. Besides, the "poor chumps" they were playing would still get a nice resume item for their troubles.

He launched one of his two loaded pins and prepared to pretend it was a fair fight.

The opposing team was still reeling around like a herd of cats with their paws taped by the time Ayumu managed to draw first blood. Joshua threw in a bomber maneuver to jump an incoming opponent and purposefully missed his target to give some drama to the sorry scene. Inexperienced Slammers tended to overcompensate with the fine-tuned tournament controls, sailing off the edge without so much as grazing their more seasoned counterparts. Even if these children had been back alley experts, the game wouldn't be on even footing until the second half. Assuming things lasted that long, of course.

Satisfied with the current state of affairs, Joshua shifted some attention back to his middle cousin to gauge the stickler's reaction. Rueban caught his glance and returned it with obstinate tranquility. He even wore a soft, self-assured smile to lend a little congeniality to the performance.

It was a good mask.

Under Rueban's chin, Joshua could still see the slight twitch of taut jugular veins. As predicted, playing against a weaker team was messing with Rueban's overwrought sense of justice. Probably not enough that he'd consider quitting again; for as much as Joshua despised his cousin, he was at least willing to acknowledge Rueban's conviction here. But there was definitely a reaction.

Maybe it was a sick game to play at a time like this, but old vendettas died hard and Joshua was determined to pull back the curtain on his cousin's fatal flaw. It had cost them the tournament years ago and it would cost them everything again if it was left alone. Rueban's judgment was purely conceit built on his own truth and wisdom. No two sides to any argument for that one. If Rue Kiryu didn't approve then obviously it had to be wrong, for who could ever contradict such boundless wisdom?

The thought threatened to release Joshua's breakfast on the battle table. He indulged in the morbid fantasy for a moment, watching as semi-clear liquid carried chunks of rice and egg on a triumphant collision course with the unsuspecting game pieces. Rue would flush red with embarrassment, and Joshua would grin in spite of himself as his cousin's fragile little rules came crashing down.

He stopped himself before his stomach could follow up on the vision. While he could certainly do it with a straight face, it would be a short lived victory with an unseemly bill of associated costs attached. And determined as Josh was to show up his cousin, he was still a Kiryu at heart. Unless he could win on his own terms, it was better to pretend he'd never tried at all.

On the as of yet non-vomit-covered battle table, Ayumu managed to get another ring-out. Joshua's own chase had drifted to an isolated corner of the field, allowing his younger cousin free reign of the center. The surrounding spectator screens went to instant replay of the graceful dispatch and the crowd cheered, just as planned.

Joshua also noted that the replay revealed Rueban playing matador to lure the enemy into Ayumu's gambit, definitely not as planned.

"Enjoying the limelight, cousin?" Joshua asked, layering his voice over with mild disinterest. Rueban would catch the jab. While the middle Kiryu tended to be a paranoid conspiracy theorist when it came to anything Joshua so much as breathed on, that didn't mean he wasn't sharp on the draw. Granted, Rueban was also making an effort this time around to constrain himself, but he still had breaking point and Joshua was edging him towards it by inches.

"Just playing my part, Joshua," Rueban answered, not missing a beat. "You wouldn't care to join the fun, would you?"

"Who, me?" the elder Kiryu giggled and leaned in towards the action a little to hide any misgivings in his expression. "I thought you'd never ask."

Without being too obvious about it, Joshua upped his game by degrees until he actually posed a threat again. He couldn't jump back to his normal skill level without raising suspicion, and it still benefited him at this point in the game to play a close hand. Rueban's intolerance for trick play would make him the most obvious target for the next round, especially with how he was smothering Ayumu from any outstanding opportunities. And yet, for all the annoyance Josh shared with his youngest cousin over the patronizing habit, it actually gave Ayumu a tactical smoke screen to hide his relatively unknown play style.

...Still, it might be nice to let the youngest member stretch his legs a little.

"Ah!" Joshua pretended surprise as he sunk into a stinger stance, recreating a text-book example opening for his opponent to stun him with a hammer strike. Thankfully, the child caught on and proceeded to ram Joshua's game piece away from the main action. If Ayumu was viewing the game through a proxy, odds were good that Joshua had just dropped out of his visual focus.

Ergo, the blind boy would have to trust his ears.

"Quick, Rueban!" Joshua pleaded. "I can't do anything!"

Rueban shot him a shrewd glance before Ayumu offered a prodding nudge and entered on Josh's side. "I can take care of myself!" the youngest cousin cried. "Rueban, you've got to help Josh!"

And that was all Rueban needed. Feint or not, he wouldn't risk upsetting Ayumu.

Joshua couldn't help a small smile as Rueban dutifully rushed in to brush off the pursuing pest. With the tables properly turned, Josh took the liberty of securing the ring-out for his own scorecard.

"Wonderful performance, cousin!" He offered a gracious smile and turned back to the remaining enemies. "Now… what to do about them?"

Rueban didn't answer. He was already halfway back across the board to baby Ayumu again. In his absence, the blind boy had not only held his two opponents, but had them on the brink of a double KO. Assuming Rueban didn't bungle things of course. Just to be sure though…

Joshua launched into another bomber jump, sailing over his middle cousin's return trajectory and landing squarely between him and Ayumu's moment of glory. Predictably, Rueban's momentum hadn't accounted for the unexpected obstacle, and Joshua proceeded to make a great show of almost falling off the edge.

Once he was safely back, he clucked his tongue and gave Rueban an unveiled reproachful look. It was more for the audience, anyway. "Getting a little excited, are we?"

"Apologies," Rueban returned curtly. "It's been a few years since I played nursery games. Is leapfrog back in fashion?"

Joshua tutted. "Well I was going for teamwork, but that might be a little above your grade level. Should we start with not running in your neighbor's space?"

Rueban almost replied before one of the enemy players attempted a charging stinger run. The middle Kiryu rewarded his efforts with a minimal dodge and a deft hammer strike. Once again, Joshua helped himself to the results.

"I think-" Rueban began.

But he was cut off by the end-of-match bell. Joshua smirked and made a shushing motion with his finger. His cousin's face shifted a shade redder than its natural hue, but Rueban at least had the grace to quit before Ayumu interceded. With the potential disaster successfully primed for delayed detonation, Joshua went back to smiling and waving at the crowd.

"Aaand we have a winner!" the announcer cheered over the PA system. "Or, oh, I'm sorry: _winners_! Looks like Team Pink at his Primes is moving on to the semi-finals! Congratulations! And congratulations to Team Saucey for putting up such a thrilling fight against such seasoned pros. Don't forget to buy the latest issue of Pin Heads Weekly so you can keep sharpening those skills, kids!"

Sidling up to Ayumu, Joshua leaned in to his younger cousin to whisper some encouragement. "Smile, dear cousin," he purred. "You don't want them editing it in later to make you look like you're having fun, trust me."

Ayumu mumbled something back that wasn't quite audible over the general hubbub. Frowning, Joshua leaned in again and tried to at least make out an expression. Ayumu stared back stone faced.

A half-thought tease paused on Joshua's tongue as he puzzled through the possible scenarios. What had Ayumu sensed during the match? He'd been able to hold his own against two (admittedly underqualified) Slammers, so he must have spent at least some focus in that direction. Did he have any emotional energy left after that to worry about whatever his two elder cousins were up to?

 _Wouldn't that be a hoot_ , Joshua noted with wry cynicism. _Three years of avoiding us and suddenly he wants to play the Kiryu family politics again. I thought you'd keep clean of it once you got the chance, Ayumu._ _I know I would_.

The thought seared in fierce, self-gratifying sarcasm for a moment before evaporating in quiet shame. Joshua tucked it away like he always did and pretended nothing happened. He'd learned a long time ago that things could only hurt him if he cared in the first place. In that sense, it was just easier to live the jerk role and let people say what they would.

...So long as those people weren't Ayumu, anyway.

Turning back to the table, Joshua pursed his lips and glanced at their current event coordinator for directions to the next match. The young man (Oshiro, was it?) seemed to already be signalling Rueban towards the sidelines so they could make way for the next set of Slammers. Waiting for the semi-final would be murder, but Yoshiya Kiryu could turn murder into a joke if he felt like it. He'd have to have a talk with Makoto afterwords about getting multiple tables going for next year, but for now he'd just weather it out like a good little competitor.

Falling in behind his middle cousin, Joshua tapped Ayumu on the shoulder as he passed and headed out. The situation wasn't ruined yet. He was playing his gambit on the edge of a knife, but so long as he was careful he would emerge victorious.

At the end of the day, he would clear his name and expose the true culprit of the disaster three years ago.

"So… care to watch the game?" Joshua suggested, looking for some way to fill the time between matches. The less room Rueban got to stew over that last maneuver the better, and keeping him from talking frankly with Ayumu was absolutely essential.

Surprisingly enough, Rueban merely raised his eyebrows before looking to their youngest cousin for a verdict.

"Ayumu?"

"...How long do you think it will take?"

"Not too long," Joshua chuckled, reaching out to tousle his cousin's messy golden hair. Ayumu shrank from the movement, but the remaining tension from the match seemed to recede a little. "These are only two-pin matches, after all."

"Professional level two-pin matches," Rueban added curtly. "We're just as likely to see them run out the timer as we are a flawless victory."

"Oh, Rueban…" Joshua sighed and shook his head. "You're assuming everyone plays the same way you do. Variety in viable playstyle is a thing, you know. And some of those viable playstyles get to the point pretty quickly."

Rueban rolled his eyes, but let the statement stand.

 _Too ashamed to even fight me on something like that..._ Joshua noted, scanning back with a smile as they settled into the crowd. _I guess he's really serious about making a good impression on Ayu._

"So…" Rueban began again after a moment, leaning slightly towards Ayumu. "Nicely done out there, cousin."

Joshua smirked at the ambiguity. Rueban had just handed him an opportunity to make a point. "Thank you, cousin! You shaped up nicely by the end, if you don't mind my saying so. And Ayumu! Who knew that once we gave him room to play he'd actually manage on his own?"

"J-Josh!" Ayumu balked at the back-handed compliment. "I thought you said-"

"Well, _I_ knew," Joshua went on, lightly putting a hand above his own sternum as he accepted the modest praise. "But that's what happens when you play from afar, I guess. You should really try that more often, cousin."

Rueban shifted a measuring look to their remaining cousin, as if this were the first time he'd ever considered giving Ayumu space in a positive light. To Joshua's satisfaction, Ayumu didn't try to downplay the suggestion.

"... I'll look into it," Rue said at last. "Thank you."

 _So gracious, even in defeat_ … Joshua let his false smile widen as he settled back for the moment. Still, he'd done enough. If he pushed any further they'd start to suspect something. Better to poke at Rueban's constructed narrative in little bursts than give himself away now. If he wanted Ayumu to understand why they couldn't trust Rueban, he'd have to do it subtly. An outright accusation would just make Rueban appear more justified.

Without much else to do, Joshua finally settled into one of the front row seats reserved for the competing teams to wait for their next match. Rueban followed suit after a beat, followed by Ayumu. If they had anything else to say, they weren't offended enough to say it now. Rueban had an image to protect and Ayumu, for all his care-free outbursts, couldn't really accuse Joshua without sacrificing the hard won point against Rueban's hovering. He wouldn't like the tension, of course, but Ayumu had never been very good at asserting himself against his cousins. So if somebody had to stand up to Rue anyway, it may as well have been Joshua.

They sat together in silence after that, a gradient row of Kiryu blonds from Joshua's ashy tones up to Ayumu's golden. A photographer snapped a picture from across the room and Joshua smiled on instinct. Without looking to check, he knew Rueban had done the same. Fittingly, only Ayumu had refrained from lying with his face. It would make a nice "moments before disaster" image when they documented things later: the one honest cousin on the end looking pensively into the distance while his elders continued on their destructive course. The press would probably ask for an interview after everything fell apart, but Ayumu would never go so far into family matters with strangers. The great undoing of Rueban Kiryu would have to be sifted out of whatever tell-all memoirs the victim chose to release after years of stewing.

In a way, it would be supremely ironic. Joshua Kiryu, falsely accused at the tri-tan-tour years ago, now scheming so far as to cripple his own team in the name of revenge. Not to say he couldn't take the remaining competition with Ayumu. His youngest cousin had always been talented, if a little stage-shy. Things would be more difficult with only the two of them, but they could manage without Rueban. And once Ayumu realized that, then Joshua's victory would be complete.

Meanwhile, the eldest Kiryu would have to figure out how to deal with his middle cousin's recent developments in false humility. An external push would probably be best. Direct action was too implicating. Perhaps if he used another player, then? He'd have to scout the prospects for a proper instrument. Following the elimination rules, the winners of the current match would be their next opponents. If he could find something suitable, he could get this done and over with before they headed into finals.

The competition proved pretty cutthroat and, as Joshua predicted, more aggressive than tactical. The active match featured a punk metal group playing as part of a publicity stunt set against the a ragtag band of Slammers led by one Daisukenojo Bito. Having played alongside Daisukenojo in the past, Joshua wasn't surprised to see his brash tactics end in a decisive loss. The boy had some talent with Tin Pin, but his blind reliance on brute strength came up short whenever he ran into someone who did the exact same thing but better.

And so it was decided: the semifinal would be Team Kiryu against Team Def Marche. Joshua studied the Slammers as they left the table. He would have to stay on his toes if they ever focused in on him, but their team numbers would probably be effectively whittled down before that became an issue. After all, why go after a wiley little evasive target when you could go after the predictable tag-along instead?

Joshua wondered how Rueban would react to that. Would he draw away from Ayumu once he realized he was painting a target on both their backs? Or would he stubbornly stick we he decided he was meant to be? In the end, it wouldn't matter. Rueban would do whatever Rueban decided was best, and Joshua couldn't change that.

He could, however, change how people perceived the actions. And given the right conditions, he could show just how selfish his cousin had always been.

...

The other two matches passed without much cause for interest. The Dan brothers passed to the next bracket, but that was to be expected. In all likelihood, they would be the final opponents of the tourney. In the meantime, Rueban tried once or twice to point out certain tactics and maneuvers to Ayumu, but eventually fell to silence again. He could tell something was off, that much was obvious, but he hadn't quite caught on to Joshua just yet. His eyes held guarded curiosity, not accusation.

Joshua weighed the reaction with a long-seasoned skepticism. After all, Rueban wasn't necessarily malicious, but that didn't mean he wasn't wrong. That was the trouble with self-righteous meddlers: they ruined things by trying to help them. At least for now, though, Rueban had decided not to stick his nose any further down the rabbit hole. Joshua gave a silent thank you for the blessing and moved on before he could think about it too hard.

By the time they were called back to the table for their next match, the tension between the Kiryu cousins had settled into a dormant net. Joshua could still sense it, ready to spring given the right conditions, but it didn't feel immediate any more. In fact, if they played this right, it might never spring at all.

But Joshua had sensed the same settlement years ago just before Rueban flared up and ruined everything. He knew better now than to trust the calm before the storm. Rueban always seemed to understand in the moment, but he never changed on the inside. Disaster was still coming, and Joshua was determined to beat it to the punch this time.

Stepping back into the spotlight, Joshua waited until his cousins took their places on either side of him before offering a bow to the opposing team. His face was calm now, smoothed over with self assurance and that slight hint of innocent Kiryu bravado. Everything had to be perfect for him to pull this off. If he gave Ayumu any reason to suspect foul play then it would all be for nothing.

Joshua exhaled on his way up and smiled again at his opponents. As far as punk metal groups went, their costumes weren't very elaborate. Of course, this could just be their street clothes, but Joshua would still be lying if he said he didn't expect more leather. The lead player rocked blond porcupine spikes and a dog collar, but his wingmen were content with generic hoodies.

...Actually, come to think of it, the black hoodie on the right looked suspiciously familiar.

Before Joshua could drudge up whatever memory the look stirred, the announcer was calling for first positions and his hands were automatically gripping his controller. Shaking his head, he promised himself he could always try remembering again later. Right now he needed to focus on staying in the game. The lights above the table were flashing yellow. Two more flashes and it would all begin.

He glanced to his right at Ayumu. The blind boy was bent over in a solid ready stance, eyes ahead, mouth slightly parted as he breathed in and out. He didn't need protecting. He deserved respect, and Joshua would make sure he got it. Today he would receive justice.

Joshua turned to his left to look at his other cousin. They matched eyes and Rueban gave a thin smile. Joshua returned the expression and turned back to the board. Something in his heart sunk as he realized this would probably be the last time they played on the same board. As much as he hated Rueban, their rivalry would always hold a special place in his heart. Today, that rivalry would end.

The lights above flashed green and Joshua launched into the field to meet their enemies. He'd picked a bomber-centric deck for the occasion, so it would be mostly hit-and-run tactics until he got a solid window of opportunity to strike. Oddly enough, Rueban and Ayumu seemed to be banking on a similar strategy judging by their current selections: a Mus Rattus Burning Cherry and Sheep Heavenly Crackle Pop Barrier, respectively. Joshua had played with both in the past for sponsorship events and remembered practicing to get their specific weights down for momentum maneuvers.

The funny thing was, Ayumu had chosen the heavier pin of the two, making him a more vulnerable target. It wouldn't be so much of a problem if all eyes were on Rueban, but assuming the blind boy meant to play alone…

 _Maybe he doesn't plan to play alone_ , Joshua mused as he jumped over an opponent and narrowly avoided landing on a stinger pin cushion. He winced and tried to buy some time with a retreat so he could think this out. _Maybe he's already given up getting out of Rueban's shadow, so he's just embracing it._

The bitter sting of stomach acid seeped into his mouth and he forced the thought back down his throat. Ayumu was nobody's puppet. It was all a coincidence, it _had_ to be. They were all using similar strategies because they all had the same sharp Kiryu wit. The youngest cousin could play perfectly well on his own.

Regardless of the intent, though, Rueban's strategy seemed to be working. Thanks to his over-the-top showmanship, he'd garnered the attention of the entire opposing team. And as it turned out, the boys of Def Marche weren't just vicious, they were also surprisingly coordinated. Joshua watched on in grim admiration as the whammy system's traditional rock-paper-scissors style balancing was laid to waste by tight formations and synchronized attack patterns. Any hammer-ripe stinger was covered by an allied bombing run, and Rueban was left barely dodging the onslaught, much less countering it.

Joshua, in the meantime, was left looking for the prime moment to make his entrance. Ideally, he had to get in before Rueban's little distraction went over the edge and the rock stars had time to regroup. His current pin was more on the lighter side, so he would be able to get by evasion-wise, but he'd also be a sitting duck if he got caught in a whammy. With no weight to hold him down, he'd probably go flying before he had a chance to recover. Ayumu on the other hand…

Well, Joshua would never think to use his youngest cousin as shield. Maybe as a distraction if the situation specifically happened to call for it, but not as more than that. As the heaviest member of the team, Ayumu would also have to be the most tactical. He could take a beating when the time came, and until then Joshua would have to play runner up.

"Say… cousin?" Rueban asked, a light strain slipping over his usual polite tone. "You wouldn't happen to feel like living up to our team title, would you?"

"Certainly," Joshua kept his face straight and reexamined the situation. "...Just not right this moment."

Rueban hissed at a near miss and tried to make a bomber jump out of the pursuing ring. One of the enemy Slammers threw down a stinger mine to discourage him from landing in their midst, but Rueban was already gone with the remaining two on his tail. "Right... Take your time, then."

Smirking to himself, Joshua moved for the straggler. If he could isolate this one, then maybe-

But then there was Ayumu, homing in on the same opportunity. Adjusting his course, Joshua grazed past the target in an initial sweep before turning tail to rejoin Rueban. Ayumu was more than capable of handling himself, but a little disorienting nudge couldn't hurt the situation. In The meantime, he'd see what he could do about dividing the remaining pursuers.

…Which would have been a brilliant plan if the remaining pursuers hadn't been headed back to reclaim their lost partner right that second.

"Ayumu!" Rueban called out, trailing in after the enemy pieces. "Just hold on!"

Joshua gave a derisive chuckle as he brought out a hammer to stave off the incoming charge. "Don't mind me, of course."

Not that he needed the rescue; he still had enough time after the swing to go running before they could even touch him. He would accept help if it was being offered, just as long as the giver understood he wouldn't be giving any back. It was more a force of habit teasing Rueban at this point. Any chance that opened had to be taken.

As for the enemy, with the rate they'd been using whammies they had to be running low by this point. If he could just out last the first wave with a few of the trump cards still tucked up his sleeve he could tip the scales considerably in his favor.

Behind the one-man hammer line he'd drawn, Ayumu managed to draw first blood at half a minute into the match. Joshua had just enough time to glance at the bump in the scoreboard before the remaining enemies swarmed him off the board. Still, he smiled at the circumstance. It wasn't perfect, but Ayumu was finally free from Rueban's grip.

"Joshua!" his youngest cousin cried in alarm.

"A temporary setback," Joshua returned. "Worry about yourself for now."

The words came a split second too late. One of the Def Marche players had managed to get a stun on Ayumu and the whole lot of them were cueballed over the edge by Rueban a moment later. Joshua had to fight down a scowl as he launched his last pin onto the board. Of course Rueban would steal all the glory for himself! The show of true colors was more nostalgically nauseating than surprising, but Joshua still chided himself for leaving the situation in his cousin's hands. Now every player but Rueban was a pin down and Josh and Ayumu would _have_ to rely on him out of sheer practicality. After all, why risk your last life when Mr. Goody Two-Pins over there still had-?

Joshua cut off the line of thought as Rueban got caught in an unlucky swing. Apparently, the first player to go over had also respawned before all of them and taken advantage of the distraction.

"Say, cousin?" Rueban asked, putting on false calm as he mashed recovery buttons to shake the stun. "I don't mean to rush you, but if you could just-oh! well, never mind."

And there went Rueban's one pin lead. Joshua had only just launched his respawn half a second before the final blow, but part of him instinctively looked for a possible solution to the passed problem anyway. Maybe if he'd used a bomber he could have gotten there fast enough? He had nineteen in stock with his current pin, and he was certainly coordinated enough for the quick draw. If he'd only been a little faster-

He shook the thought off and pushed forward. Rueban had gotten what he deserved. There was no problem to solve.

A moment later and the rest of the players had repawned. Joshua tried to get in a few free hits before they regrouped, but the best he could manage was to split their attention. Breaking from their previous group tactics, the opposing team now took on more individualized maneuvers.

At first, Joshua thought they'd simply lost their rhythm of play, but after a few close passes he began to realize the virtue of the strategy. The movements only _seemed_ divided on the outside. They would each pick a separate target to antagonize and seemingly draw into single combat before "retreating" into eachother's vectors and taking up the offensive against an unsuspecting pursuer who still thought his chosen opponent was running away.

The result was infuriatingly effective. Without a clear pattern for their opponents switching maneuvers, the Kiryu cousins were left playing on the defensive as they waited against a ticking timer for some sort of decisive opening to secure a lead. While they were currently tied for ring-outs, Def Marche had snuck in a few technical points with their earlier whammy tactics. If they all stayed in the current deadlock, those points would be the tie breaker. And Joshua couldn't let things end that way.

The game wore on, but it wasn't until the last ten-second margin that the opportunity struck. One of the opposing players, probably assured of his impending victory, got greedy and tried to pull a stinger mine on Joshua without realizing how far off his allies had drifted. Seizing the opportunity, Joshua bomber jumped and landed just as the stinger spikes began to recede. His opponent was stunned. Now, all he had to do was-

"Joshua!"

Joshua frowned in the crawling half-second that it took for him to realize it wasn't Ayumu calling his name. No, that was Rueban. What was it now? Was he frustrated that Joshua was stealing the show? Of all the times to make a fuss about who got the credit, and he was choosing _now_?

Then Joshua realized there was a stunned enemy pin hurtling his way. Apparently Rueban had taken the same opening and was now attempting a double ring-out by knocking both his victim _and_ Joshua's off with a single blow. How had he gotten in so fast? He would have to have a feather-weight pin to move in without Joshua noticing.

Whatever the case, it didn't matter. If Rueban managed to get another double ring-out then he'd never let it go that _he_ had been the one that saved them in their moment of need. Perfect little Rueban Kiryu had reversed his cousins' fortunes and forever saved them from divisive defeat.

Joshua couldn't stand the thought.

Rueban had probably meant for him to clear the way for the shot, but Joshua had other plans. Pulling out the single stinger equipped to his current pin, he halted the incoming pin before throwing his full weight against it. The ricochet sent him flying backwards into his previous victim while Rueban's would-be kill was pushed back to the sender. Without much time to counter, Rueban could either get out of the way and let Joshua have the points or stubbornly use the last of the match to reclaim his petty victory.

It wasn't until Ayumu cried in alarm that he realized the flaw in his plans. In his haste to keep Rueban's savior complex in check, he'd neglected to check on Rueban's actual game piece: A feather-weight pin sitting in the exact same trajectory as the enemy pin he'd just sent flying. And suddenly Joshua realized how Rueban had been able to sneak in a hit before him.

Rueban's piece remained frozen as the enemy pin collided with it and both went over the edge. He'd only been able to stun the enemy as they stunned him back. He hadn't been asking Joshua to move aside, he'd been asking for assistance.

But now it was too late. As Rueban's second pin clattered over the edge, drowned out by the closing bell as the last seconds of the timer turned to zeros, Joshua could only stare straight ahead. He wasn't worried about Rueban anymore. Stupid Rueban and his stupid glory hogging could wait for their just desserts at the next family reunion. But Ayumu…

Joshua held his breath and tried to imagine his younger cousin's face right now. Had he seen it? Had he known that Rueban couldn't dodge the incoming shot? Could he feel Joshua's rising panic as the realizations found their mark?

Someone grabbed his left arm. Probably Rueban. Nobody else would be so audacious as to touch him right now. The room had filled with noise and Joshua could just make out some announcement about proceeding to the next match. Maybe that was what Rueban was getting at: trying to make him move so the next Slammers could get on with it already. Moments after a fatal betrayal and still all he could do was play by the rules... Joshua felt a faint, sickening smile pass to his lips. Rueban Kiryu would never change.

"Yoshiya!"

Finally, he heard his name break through the general clamour as Rueban slowly led him away from the table. He twitched to the side as his eyes searched for the source. "Ayumu?" he croaked back hopefully. Even if it was only to be scolded, Joshua now felt an odd anxiety to see his cousin. If he could just explain himself to Ayumu, then everything would be fine. Rueban seemed to be handling it pretty well, at any rate.

"Come on, cousin," the same voice as before, now recognizable as not Ayumu, came again as they moved towards the exit. "We need to talk."

"Rueban," Joshua breathed, finally identifying the speaker. Pulling away from his cousin, Joshua again scanned the crowd for Ayumu and came back empty. He frowned back at Rueban. "Where…?"

"Joshua," Rueban said again firmly. "We need to talk."

Joshua rolled his eyes in exasperation and turned away. "Why, for another lecture? You won't believe me anyway. Where's Ayumu?"

"I might believe you," Rueban suggested. His voice didn't carry any malice, but Joshua imagined a sadistic tease in it anyway.

"Sure you might," he shot back sarcastically. "Why wouldn't you? You certainly demonstrated faith in my character three years ago. Of course I have no reason to doubt you now."

Apparently the words hit a nerve. Abandoning all decorum, Rueban grabbed Joshua by the shoulders and glared into his eyes. "Yoshiya Kiryu," he said in a low voice. "Give me a reason to believe you."

Joshua stared back with slowly eroding patience. "And why should I?"

"Because," Rueban sighed, averting his eyes to the side. "Ayumu is gone."

"...Gone?"

"He left right after you…" There was a slight pause as Rueban seemed to think of a better way to word the sentence. "Right after _it_ happened. He's still technically in the running, but I'm afraid he might… that is, not to doubt our dear cousin's character-"

"Which is certainly something you would never do," Joshua cut in dryly.

Rueban gave a searching look for a moment. "...I'm afraid he won't come back."

"Because you're out of the game?"

"Because _you_ turned on a family member," Rueban finished in a reproachful growl.

Joshua balked. "Oh, please! I'm sorry, okay? I might pretend to be omniscient, but I didn't actually know you were stunned! Do you want me to go whine to the referee for you to see if he can make an exception for dysfunctional family circumstances? Or would you just be satisfied if I agree you were set to be our MVP? You know, so you can keep that perfect record you always wanted? You should have just asked for that in the first place, cousin. At least then you wouldn't be dragging us down with you!"

"Oh!" A new feminine voice gasped. Whoever the speaker was, she had to be practically right on top of them to be heard so clearly above the crowd. "I...hope I'm not interrupting something?"

Exchanging a glance, both cousins assumed neutral expressions and turned to their new guest.

Standing only a few inches away was the black hooded figure from earlier. Er… wait, maybe it was just someone with a similar generic black hoodie? The members of Def Marche were all guys, weren't they?

Before Joshua could formulate an opening question, the porcupine-headed ringleader from earlier came up beside the mysterious hooded girl and leaned on her shoulder.

"Hey guys!" Porcupine greeted them. "Glad we could catch you. Close match out there, right? Let's play again once we get the teams back together."

"Back… together?" Joshua asked. Had Ayumu made that much of a scene leaving? Had he really not noticed just because he was too wrapped up worrying about himself? A warm blush fired up in his cheeks.

"Yeah, we were playing with a substitute so we couldn't pull off our sweet synced moves like we practiced," Porcupine explained, rubbing ruefully at the back of his head as if his team hadn't nearly mopped the floor with Joshua earlier. "BJ was sick today so we had to bring in Ribbons here at the last minute. Pretty sweet disguise though, you'd never tell she wasn't Beej if you hadn't heard her. Anyway, just wanted to say congrats on those gutsy moves out there! Give those Dan brothers hell for us, a'ight?"

Porcupine finished the statement by offered a fist bump. Before Joshua could recall the proper return gesture, Rueban stepped in to bump knuckles and smile back. "Will do. In the meantime, keep on rockin', eh?"

Joshua forced on a smile and nodded. Rueban was obviously trying to sweep on past the social entanglement as smoothly as possible. On any other occasion, he would probably pick it up as a point of contention to tease his cousin over later. As things stood right now, Joshua was just content to let Rueban get them out of the public eye so they could catch their bearings.

And yet, even as Porcupine turned to go, the hooded "Ribbons" didn't seem to follow the same cue. Maybe she'd been hoping for her own little interaction with the famous Joshua Kiryu? Well… He could oblige her that much. Keeping his smile from sagging, Joshua offered her a fist bump of her own and raised his eyebrows.

"Hi there," Ribbons said warmly, taking the fist bump and entirely missing the hint to leave. "I guess it's been a while, huh? Not that I'd expect you to recognize me. I mean, how many Slammers out there wear hoodies, right?"

Rueban stirred and tilted his head. "You… played with Tatsuya three years back, didn't you?"

"Ah, so you _do_ remember!" Ribbons beamed back. "That makes this easier then. See, I feel like I've got some unfinished business with you. Do you mind if we step outside?"

"We're a little busy at the moment," Joshua sighed. "Could this wait?"

"Actually…" she bowed her head apologetically and played with her sleeves. "I have a train to catch now that I'm out of the running. But I won't take long! I promise. It's just... things didn't seem to end so well last time, so I've been meaning to check up on you for a while now."

"Hmm," Joshua hummed his understanding and shifted Rueban a look. "Well, I do just so happen to have a fanmail P.O. box, so if you'd like to send something through there-"

Ribbons shook her head. "I would, but that might take too long. And I wanted to get all three of you together."

"Well, as you can see, we're a man down at the moment," Rueban finally cut in. "So, I guess we'll have to do this another time, then?"

"But that's just it," Ribbons said, as if she hadn't been vaguely circling the point for her last few sentences. "I was afraid you'd broken up over the cheating allegations. And I… well, I wanted to make sure you were all right. And maybe I still can. But you'll need to work together."

"...Your concern is touching," Rueban assured her after a moment. "But I think we have it covered."

Ribbons remained unconvinced. "Were you watching where your other cousin went off to?"

Rueban opened his mouth, then closed it and looked back to Joshua. Joshua merely shrugged in response. If Rueban really hadn't been paying attention, then he would need some sort of lead to track down their erstwhile cousin. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?

"Great," the hooded girl clapped her hands together and nodded. "It's settled then: You hear me out and I tell you where to go. Now, shall we? We can get a head start if we talk while we walk."

"Fine," Joshua sighed, shrugging in defeat. "Rueban? Be a dear and get the door for the lady."

"Ah, thank you," the girl bowed to Rueban as he dutifully followed his orders. "Now then, I wanted to explain about the 'malfunction' three years back."

Joshua raised an eyebrow at his remaining cousin and followed. "Oh? You wouldn't happen to know who was responsible for that, would you?"

"Of course," she stopped to push back her hood as they stepped outside. Long black hair threaded with silk ribbons spilled out of confinement and she took a moment to tug the remaining strands from the back of her garment. When she was done, she turned to offer an apologetic smile. "I did it," she said, then added, "For Tatsuya. He wanted to do it himself, but subtlety doesn't exactly run strong in the Dan family."

"...Because Tatsuya wanted to sabotage himself," Rueban concluded dubiously, looking away from the Josh and Ribbons as if ashamed to be associated with them. Admittedly, the tale seemed decidedly less likely than what Rueban had cooked up in its absence. Joshua would probably accuse himself too if this were the alternative. "Well, _that_ certainly makes more sense than an overzealous rival setting him up. It's a wonder I didn't think of it before."

"I know, it seems a little counterintuitive," Ribbons sighed. "Just hold on a moment. Tatsuya wanted to give Shuto a chance to outshine him. See, before then, the Tin Pin world sort of saw Shuto as living in his brother's shadow, and Tatsuya wanted to give him a decisive victory before he went off to university and left the scene."

"So naturally that meant sabotaging himself," Rueban put in again.

Joshua gave his cousin a sympathetic smirk. "Shut up and walk, dear."

Rueban shot back a flat look and continued on. "Forgive me if I seem skeptical."

"Well, the point was for the world to see Shuto on his own," Ribbons explained. "So Tatsuya thought if we entered a tournament, but then he dropped out halfway through, it would be the perfect opportunity for Shuto to step up and show off his raw talent. The problem was, Shuto would know if his brother threw the match, so we needed some way to get Dan out of action that didn't involve play on the field. Ergo…" She stopped and pointed to Rueban.

"He sabotaged himself," Joshua finished after a few beats of silence from his cousin. In a way, the whole thing made him want to laugh. Here they were, after three years of pointing fingers, and the victim turned out to be the culprit all along. "Well… I'll be dipped in ginger."

Still, Rueban seemed determined to argue. "So he was supporting his brother by abandoning him," the middle Kiryu said quietly. "Did he know he'd be facing us? I mean, if the match had gone any further..."

"Call it the curiosity of the Dans," Ribbons replied wistfully. "Maybe Shuto wouldn't have won the match, but he'd still make his brother proud in his own way. The important thing wasn't to be perfect, just that the brothers could play as equals.

"Now, admittedly," she went on, holding up a finger to silence any preemptive snark from her audience. "Tatsuya understands now that it was a stupid plan. We had to apologize to Shuto afterwords and he's still asked me to keep it hidden from the public to this day. But for you-"

"What about us?" Rueban cut in. He was trying to keep an even tone, but Joshua could still see his fists clenching white. "Why are you going out of your way to explain yourself to a few perfect strangers? Do you pity us?"

Finally, the girl stopped and faced them with a patient expression. "I'm sorry," she said with perfect sincerity. "We've caused you a lot of trouble over the years, haven't we? It feels wrong to ask for forgiveness but… well, so long as you don't let it get in the way of your family. So long as you can do that, I think it will all be all right."

Joshua watched the girl carefully, trying to find some angle she might be playing. He'd dealt with fangirls before, and some of them were even crafty enough to hide their blind devotion behind a kind of empathy for their idols. But this girl, who so presumptively forced her presence on them all for the sake of confessing a crime… something felt familiar about that. She hadn't come to them for leverage, she'd come simply because she believed it was the right thing to do.

 _What an oddball,_ Joshua thought, shaking his head. _And yet…_

"Anyway," Ribbons finished, offering a hand to her Kiryu companions. "I should be going if I want to catch my train. Your cousin headed off towards Udagawa, from what I could tell. I hope it all ends well between you."

Joshua shook first, then Rueban. Ribbons gave them a parting wave and then she was off. In a way, the experience still felt too surreal to accept. But if Rueban actually believed it…

"I believe I owe you an apology," the middle Kiryu said after a moment.

Joshua weighed the statement, but took comfort in its flat inflection. Rueban's authenticity had better odds if he wasn't trying to make a show of his penitance. Nodding slowly, the elder Kiryu sighed and cupped his chin. "Well… I suppose you're off the hook for today then."

"What, because I'm out of the tourney?" Rueban gave a wry smile and looked ahead. "Ah… if only it were that simple, cousin."

"Let me guess: Somebody has to keep Yoshiya Kiryu's ego in check?"

Rue chuckled. "That too. But I'm more concerned about getting you and Ayumu back to the tourney."

"...You're not mad?"

A beat of silence followed and for a moment Joshua thought the whole thing might come crashing down like an elaborate soap bubble fantasy. Then, with perfect composure, Rueban replied, "I'm furious. But more at myself than either of you."

"I meant about this last match," Joshua clarified. "You know, with the whole-"

"It wasn't your fault," Rueban interrupted. "You didn't know."

"You know, you shouldn't go thinking everything's all about you all the time," Joshua teased, smiling to himself as they passed further into the city.

Rueban only shrugged. "What can I say? I'm still a Kiryu."

…

 **CG's Definitely-Not-Past-Midnight-Thanks-Why-Do-You-Ask? Author's Notes:**

Wow. That was way too long! For examples of stories that are less long and definitely better paced, please check out Aviantei's _Yehua_ "Wildflowers" collection going on this SOSS season.

Also, for general examples for an author who knows what a timetable is, check out Aviantei's page in general, because she has put me to shame with her punctuality.

But enough about all that. As you can tell, once again got stuck with the "unravelling" chapter and kind of just went nuts with uncalled for plot twists and character drama because for some reason I didn't feel like going the easy route. Yeah, good job, me. Way to be unpredictable by not giving anyone any sort of valid clues to guess from! I mean, to be fair, it's difficult to write a mystery element into a collaborative story when you're only half-sure of half the facts yourself, but if any of this somehow worked, then I'm glad you were able to enjoy it.

Now, since it is way passed my bedtime and I have work in a few hours, I hope you'll forgive the lack of Slammer profile and just be content that this chapter is finally published.

See you next week!

-CG

...

 **EeveeGen9988's Awe-Eyed Author's Notes:**

Interestingly enough, I was going to include the first match of Tri-Tan-Tour last chapter, but apparently the chapter was quite long. So it was weaved into this one. I didn't mean for the chapter to mainly be a 'setup chapter'. =3

To be honest, the one thing I find the hardest to write about from TWEWY is Tin Pin Slammers. It's the sort of game where you have to actually play and see it yourself to know how it works. As such, trying to write out the mechanics into the story perfectly hasn't always been my strong suit (which is why I have few scenes of Tin Pin in UF or AFIH). Although, I hope I can get better at it, especially when it's my turn to write the next few Tin Pin scenes. Heheheh...*rubs back of neck sheepishly*

As always, CG does a brilliant job at bringing together everything. It's not hard for me to look up to him, as I know he's way more advanced in his writing than me(especially his awesome art skills). So I had always wondered why he decided checking out TWEWY AFIH was noteworthy, especially when I sucked at writing still at that point (seriously, I was really at that time, but I've really improved since then. One of the things I'm glad about was changing TWEWY A Fall Into Power into TWEWY A Fall Into Honour, heh). I'm lucky to have met him, he's a really cool and awesome guy (you should check out some of his stories, they're really worth your while). =3

Also, if you're in the mood for other great stories as well from the Sauce Project, go check out some of the Twelve Shots of Summer stories. And if you like those, check out the current TSoS AllStars poll in the "Last Rose of Summer" section. There are a lot of stories that are absolute gems from over the last four years of TSos that deserve a little good ol' recognition, y'know? =D

\- EeveeGen9988


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